Marvel 2000: Force WorksWest Coast Avengers
by Dan Ingram
Summary: When Xandar asks Nova the Human Rocket to investigate a possible traitor in the ranks of the West Coast Avengers, Force Works and the Wackos are set on a collision course! But are things really as they seem?
1. Default Chapter

**Marvel Fanfare**

**Force Works/**

**West Coast Avengers**

**The lies that make the World go 'round**

**Part 1**

**The first shot**

Deep Space, the planet Xandar, home of the Nova Corps 

Queen Adora, leader of the reconstructed planet of Xandar and Prime Commandant of the intergalactic police force known as the Nova Corps, couldn't remember another time in history when as many people relied upon her people for protection and aid as they did now. It hadn't always been this way, of course.

To begin with, the planet Xandar had once been rendered lifeless by the space pirate Nebula and her pirate armada, Xandar destroyed almost to the last man, woman and child and it's legendary police force, the Nova Corps, wiped out as well. But luckily for Xandar and those who now depended on them, that was only a temporary state of affairs. Richard Rider, the man called Nova and his young superhero companions, the New Warriors, had managed to reactivate Xandar's all important supercomputer, the Worldmind, who in turn resurrected Xandar back to it's old glory. Since that time, the returned planet welcomed with open arms refugees from dozens of different galaxies fleeing all manners of wars. The finest among these refugees were even rewarded with membership in the revived Nova Corps. Though the citizens of Xandar were an odd collection from too many different planets and cultures to count, they were loyal one and all to the revived planet and the ideals of its powerful police force.

But even these warriors and their queen oft times wondered if they were strong enough to carry the burden they were now faced with. Recently, the Shi'ar Empire, the strongest and largest (albeit by a narrow margin) power in the known universe, was almost completely crippled. Dozens of Shi'ar worlds were destroyed by an unknown force, utterly laid to waste. As if that wasn't enough, the worlds destroyed were seemingly selected for their importance to the Shi'ar. They were targeted for being strategically placed military bases, worlds rich in rare minerals or involved in the construction of vital machinery. It was a wonder that the Shi'ar Empire survived at all.

But while the Shi'ar Empire did indeed survive, it retreated inwards, silently abandoning its defense treaties and security that the large empire once offered to satellite planets. And unfortunately, the Skrull and Kree Empires were still going strong. They were hardly thriving, but the militaristic empires had plenty of muscle to spare.

So naturally, planets began flocking to Xandar for defense and security, as it was the only empire remotely strong enough to ward off the remaining two. So many planets were fleeing to Xandar's aid in fact that it was decided to move the head of the empire to Galador, as it was the best location from which to deploy peace-keepers, among other reasons. And that meant even more work for the Queen, who often felt as though she had the weight of the universe upon her shoulders (and she wasn't far off). As she sat in her throne at the head of her command table surrounded by her many advisors, she found herself almost wishing she'd never been resurrected.

"Planet Forso reports that a plague has broken out amongst its population." An adviser informed the Queen, "so far the death toll has been low, but no one expects that to last. What are your suggestions?"

"Planet Forso is due to meet with an envoy from the Skrull Empire in four weeks time," Adora said matter of factly, "that's likely all the time that is needed for this plague to become a full scale epidemic. Begin studying Skrull anti bodies immediately. I very much doubt they would allow their custom made plague to harm themselves. And begin planning a raid of Ohmar 4, where the Skrulls store their bioweapons. We've tolerated them long enough. Next order of business?"

Another advisor looked at his space age note-pad, "The Kree have begun placing hyper-spacial missiles on Turhun 9. From that planet, they have an excellent line of sight at Khan 2, where the majority of our cargo ships are being retrofitted. If they take out that port, they'll…

"Be able to do nothing." Queen Adora finished for the advisor. "Turhun 9 is at the far edge of the Kree Empire. The system around Khan 2 has no natural star gates, and can't support artificially created ones either. As a result, any Kree invasion from that system would be almost completely devoid of supply lines. At any rate, increase sensor scans to discourage anymore build up, and please be more careful in the future. Now more than ever, we cannot allow ourselves to fall for the Supreme Intelligence's feints."

"True words were never spoken, my Queen." The holographic image representing the Xandar Worldmind shimmered into sight above the table. A blue hologram of a scholarly bald, bearded man looked at his queen with a seriousness that instantly drew her attention, "And fittingly enough, it is because of the Supreme Intelligence that I feel compelled to interrupt this meeting."

"Then speak. What concerns you?"

If a holographic representation of an entire world' cultures and knowledge could visibly show alarm, it was doing so now, "I have reason to believe that the Supreme Intelligence has a mole in Earth's mightiest heroes, the Avengers."

Queen Adora barely prevented herself from gasping aloud in fear, while all but one member of her staff gasped aloud and quickly began murmuring amongst themselves.

"I must say, I fail to see any cause for concern. Why should we be worried about a small band of adventurers from some backwater world?" The lone advisor said, cutting thru all conversations and discussions like a hot knife thru butter. Slowly, those whose mouths weren't gaping open in astonishment turned and began glaring daggers at the man.

"What?"

"When the Kree Skrull came to a standstill for the first time in thousands of years," Adora stated thru gritted teeth, absolutely appalled by the advisor's ignorance, "the Avengers were directly involved. When the Shi'ar and Kree went to war, it was the Avengers who tipped the scales in the Shi'ar's favor. When the Kree sought to reinstate their empire on Earth, it was the Avengers who thwarted them. And when the Shi'ar Empire was devastated, the Avengers were similarly involved. **_That_** is why we are concerned."

"To say nothing of the other groups of terrains." Another advisor muttered, "those Starjammers and that whole Phoenix debacle…

The advisor slunk into his chair and tried to make himself as invisible as best he could while Queen Adora turned her attention back to the Worldmind, "I'm aware of the majority of Avengers who have served, Worldmind. Whom is believed to be the mole?"

"Captain Marvel, of Titan."

This time, Queen Adora had to prevent herself from scowling, "That half breed bastard continues to be a stain on his father's legacy, it seems."

"So it appears. Our spies closest to the Kree commander tell me that they have some sort of alliance. Sadly, our intelligence on what sort of alliance is sketchy at best."

"I remember reading some reports about this whelp. Isn't he gifted with cosmic awareness like his father?" Adora asked, "he may be spying on us as we speak."

"The boy does indeed possess cosmic awareness." The Worldmind answered, "thankfully, I believe our head scientist, after a fashion, has discovered a way to confuse and hide ourselves from his notice."

"How can you be certain?"

"Because we're still here." The Worldmind dead-panned.

Queen Adora steepled her hands together before her, "Very well. Thankfully, the Nova Corps has an agent on earth, one more than willing to leap into the maw of death to investigate these claims, if need be."

_Earth, Metro City _

"No freakin' way, Adora! Find yourself some other cannon fodder to get their heads caved in!"

Queen Adora, or at least a shimmering aquatic blue holographic projection being beamed from the planet Xandar into the bathroom of Richard Rider, otherwise known as Nova the Human Rocket, rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration. She expected some reluctance, but hardly expected the level of resentment she was seeing now from one of the Nova Corps' most legendary member.

Richard Rider, clad only in a pair of boxer shorts, pointed an accusing finger at Queen Adora, an act consider as obscene on Xandar as spitting on the flag in America, and his chest tightening in anger as he said "I'm not a damned dog who asks how high when you say jump. Especially when you say 'go after the Avengers!'"

"No, you're not a dog," Adora snapped, "you're a member of the Nova Corps…"

"Whom you've all but disowned up until now." Nova snarled, "Remember?"

"After you defied a direct order!"

"I was in the middle of saving my world! What'd you expect?" Nova demanded.

"For you to do your duty as a member of the Nova Corps!"

"I've done my duty better than any other damn member you've got." Nova spat venomously. He knew it was risky talking to Queen Adora like this, but some things he felt just had to be said, "I was the one who turned the tide in the final battle with the Skrulls. I was the one who single handily revived Xandar, and the one who defeated Kraa!" Nova held up three fingers, "That's three times I did a job no one else in the Corps could. And my thanks? You took away my life…I mean my powers twice and left me to rot. So forgive me for not trusting you and needing something more than 'investigate Captain Marvel's alliance with the Avengers' when you bark out orders. Spill it, Adora. What's the deal? I'm not gonna jump thru hoops and piss off the most powerful heroes on my planet just because you say so."

Adora sighed, her anger at being disrespected so tempered by the fact that Rider did have a point. He had a right to be both distrustful and angry, after all "Very well, Rider. My spies within the Kree Empire tell me that the Supreme Intelligence has some sort of alliance with Captain Marvel. I'll be honest, we don't know what the agreement is, save that it exists. I swear this to you upon my royal honor."

Nova's jaw dropped, and the queen of Xandar continued,

"I'm not asking you to combat the Avengers. How you approach the situation is up to you. But for the good of the Xandar and those who now need our help, I need to know. Any more questions?"

Nova rubbed the back of his neck and glanced away, now feeling a little guilty about his suspicions. Once Adora quoted Royal honor, all reservations disappeared. Back on Xandar, Royal Honor was like honor's honor's honor on Xandar. No way was Adora yanking his chain, "Just one. Does this Cap have cosmic consciousness like his dad?"

"Cosmic awareness." Adora corrected, "and yes, Captain Marvel does indeed possess it much like his father."

"So what's to prevent him from seeing us coming a mile away?" Nova inquired, "if you're right and this guy's working for the Kree, then I'd be walking into a trap face first."

"Our greatest scientist has devised a method with which to conceal yourself from the from his prying eyes." The image of Adora altered and shifted, into that of a blue globe. Slowly, the blue globe contracted inwards to reveal a single silver wristband, "This was created by our greatest scientist, Professor Plaut. This plaut devise should protect you while you plan your next move."

"Plaut devise. Lord…" Nova muttered.

"Any more questions?"

"No, I guess."

"Good. I'll await your report."

Nova eyed the plaut devise he held in his hand and sighed, "Dani's gonna love this."

"No freakin' way!" Shouted Danielle Moonstar, leader of Force Works.

Force Works was gathered in their meeting hall, sitting patiently in full uniform and watching as, for what had to be the thousandth time, Richard Rider and Danielle Moonstar, argued about team tactics.

"We're not taking on the West Coast Avengers!" Mirage repeated.

"I'm not talkin' about fighting the Avengers, just confronting them and seeing what the deal is with Captain Marvel." Nova stated.

"Yeah, we all know how rare it is for two different hero teams to come into conflict over a misunderstanding." Speedball quipped.

"Robbie, shut up."

"Richie, are you sure about this?" Namorita, Nova's long time lover, asked.

"Positive. As much as it tears me up to say this, Adora ain't yanking our chains here. If she says that Captain Marvel is working with the Kree, then he's workin' with the Kree."

"But these are the Avengers." Arsenal stated, "I mean, they wouldn't let someone they didn't trust onto the team, would they?"

"Why not? We did." Speedball answered, thumbing towards X-Treme. X-Treme ignored the insinuation.

"To be honest, Rich, I'm not to sure about this." X-Treme said, "I've met Captain Marvel, and got a good feel for the guy. He doesn't strike me as someone to ally with the Kree."

"That may be, Adam.. Adora didn't know what the situation was exactly. For all we know, he may just run pizza for them."

"Couldn't we call the other Avengers? The east coast Avengers?" Tarene asked.

"It's just the Avengers, dear." Kymaera informed her, "and we don't exactly have the most credibility with them."

"Why's that?" Wolfsbane asked.

"Because me, Nova and 'Nita broke into Avengers mansion to steal a quinjet to fight an evil, magical housekeeper." Speedball said with a straight face.

Dani pressed her hand to her head and muttered, "Spirits, I'm in charge of a loony bin."

"So, what are we going to do?" Nova asked, "if you guys don't want to do this, fine. I'll do it myself.. But it has to be done."

"Then lets do it right," Mirage stated, her tone laced with authority, "First, we need to double check what Adora told you. No offense Rich, but we've all see how leaders can be misled by faulty intelligence into making poor decisions. Adam?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you have any sources on earth that could possibly confirm what Adora's said?"

"I have one source. I'll need Bobby, though."

"Okay. While Adam's doing that, Nova I want you to use your spaceship and call... Titan was it? If anyone knows there's something wrong with Captain Marvel, it would be them."

"Got it."

"Taki, I want you to start researching any and all ways to combat the current roster of West Coast Avengers. Weapons, battle tactics, anything you can think of. And do it quickly."

The team suddenly, Minus Wiz Kid, stared at Dani like she'd just suggested assaulting the president.

"Uhh, Dani? Isn't that a little harsh?" Arsenal asked.

"Spare me." Dani snapped, "Worst case scenario, Captain Marvel and Supreme Intelligence are close allies and he's using Captain Marvel as his mole in the Avengers. He's had plenty of time now to get them under his thumb."

"So we need to be prepared." Kymaera finished.

"For the fight of our lives if it comes down to it," Danielle stated in all seriousness, "because I don't care how good we think we are, these are the **_Avengers_**. 'Nuff said."

"I can't believe you don't come up here more often." Speedball confided to Nova as he looked down upon the entirety of earth that lay outside the window. Speedball was riding shotgun with Nova in one of his smaller ships while the Human Rocket piloted the ship.

"Why? The view's not that great and space is cold, dark and empty." Nova answered as he kept looking forward, "like your love life."

"Oh, that was beneath the belt, man. So do you know the phone number for Titan?"

Nova eased the ship into the landing bay with practiced skill and then stood up from his chair and strolled towards the ship's exit and walked down the ramp, "No, but it's programmed into the ship's computers I think. We'll just give them a buzz, get a low down on this Captain Marvel loser and go from there."

"This an awful lot of fuss over one guy, ya know." Speedball commented as the two former Warriors strolled down the hall.

"Not really." Nova countered, "see, if this guy's anything like his dad, we might be in serious trouble. Mar-vell, he was a freaking legend, man. I mean, the Nova Corps made Mar-vell an honorary member just like the Avengers. Captain Mar-vell was like the Captain America of outer space, whuppin' ass despite incredible odds."

By now, the two had reached the communication bay. Nova pulled up a chair and began pressing buttons, bringing the systems to readiness.

"Hope the voice command still works." Nova wished aloud, "Computer? Open a…umm…"

"Channel?"

"Yeah, computer, open a channel to Titan."

Acknowledged. The synthetic computer voice droned.

"Guess those hours of Star Trek paid off, huh?"

"Says the guy who can't even use his own tools."

No response. Next command?

"Maybe the line's busy?" Speedball proposed. Nova ignored the comment and typed a few commands into the consul.

"This can't be right…"

"What?"

Nova leaned back in his chair and rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "According to the sensors, Titan, the planet, isn't there any more."

"Uhh, that's a joke, right bucket head?" Speedball asked incredulously. He didn't want to think about the power needed to make a planet disappear, or worse, destroy it.

"Probably. I've always had a hard time makin' heads or tails of most of the stuff around here to begin with." Nova turned the sensors off and stood up, "Come on, lets get outta here. I just hope Adam's having better luck than us with his 'big source'."

_Florida Everglades_

Having spent the last two hours trudging thru thick swamp waters and at times cutting their way thru what almost seemed, alien fauna, Arsenal found himself for the first time questioning his friend's sanity. After all, Adam stopped at seemingly random times to turn in a new direction, then minutes later changing direction yet again and heading even deeper into the swamp. Arsenal almost suspected X-Treme was lost and simply didn't want to admit it, but Adam's face bore a look of both serious and aloofness. It was almost as if X-Treme was mediating while he walked. Finally, Adam stopped on a dime and pointed.

"There. The people we need to see are there."

"Lemme get this straight. One of the most reliable sources for information in the known universe, is in there." Bobby asked, unable to hide his utter disbelief. After all, X-Treme was pointing at a dilapidated shack that looked too rustic for even the local wildlife to squat in.

"Correct."

"You know Adam, I've never doubted you before, but now seems like a good time to start."

X-Treme said nothing in reply as they approached the shack. Rather, he reached into his pocket, withdrew some silver dust, and sprinkled it in front of the entryway. Still ignoring Arsenal, Adam clasped his hands together and began chanting. words Arsenal couldn't hope to understand. He'd heard Adam speak (and curse) in Shi'ar once or twice before, and the chanting he heard now sounded nothing like that. After several minutes, Adam stopped suddenly and motioned for Arsenal to approach.

"They're waiting." Was all Adam said as he cracked open the door to the shack, a bright black light escaping thru the cracks. Arsenal brought his arms up to defend himself as he and X-Treme as the black light reached out from inside the cabin and engulfed the two heroes.

When Arsenal opened his eyes again, the sight that greeted him was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. The landscape was a lush, alien world with bright red trees, insects the size large dogs fluttering about and waterfalls that drained sideways into invisible lakes.

"Okay, did you slip me some alien drug or something?" Arsenal inquired as he scanned the alien landscape.

"Actually, I've brought you to a pocket dimension that's the home of a great cosmic contemplator and philosopher. Operating on the higher plains as he does, he's privy to a great deal of information."

"Ah, Adam. It's been quite some since you've graced me with your presence." A voice boomed over the landscape. Arsenal began searching for the source of the voice, and found no one besides him and X-Treme in the alien landscape. He observed X-Treme looking skyward, and followed suit.

And despite all he'd seen in his time as a member of Force Works, what he saw left him utterly speechless. High up in the star filled sky was plump, bald robed man literally looking down from the sky. The man wasn't looking down from the sky, rather he was the sky. Starts defined his head, his eyes and mouth. It was as if someone turned the Big Dipper into a Buddha.

"Greetings Adam, to you and your friend. What brings you to my humble abode?"

"Oh great thinker, Ahl Bundi," Arsenal looked at X-Treme with a raised eye brow, "we seek information regarding a possible alliance between Captain Marvel and the Kree's Supreme Intelligence."

"This I know, Adam Sol. However, you know my rule." The great cosmic thinker stated, "I can give nothing without first receiving."

"That is why have brought my friend." X-Treme answered.

"Uhhh, Adam, what's the idea here?"

"Bobby, just me trust me."

Before Arsenal could react, he felt a chill down his spine, and a slight buzzing in his skull for several short seconds. Once it was over, Bobby felt more clear headed than he could ever remember.

"What happened?"

"I merely copied your life's memories, which I will examine and meditate on later." The cosmic contemplator explained, "they look to be most interesting and rest assured, no one but myself shall ever know of this transaction."

"We have given you our payment, great Bundi. Now it is time for your part of the bargain." Adam stated evenly.

"You stand on formality far too much, young warrior." The cosmic thinker expression turned serious, "it actually pleases me to inform someone of the lower plains of Captain Marvel's doing. He does indeed have an alliance with the Supreme Intelligence, one of military support. Beyond that, I simply don't know. The Supreme Intelligence is a crafty creature, sadly."

X-Treme bowed respectfully, "Thank you for the information, great Bundhi. We will be on our way. Please be well."

As the two heroes left, the great cosmic contemplator shook his head remorsefully. He dearly wished he could have told them more, but like so many mortals, they simply didn't ask the right questions.

"So, what do we have?" Danielle asked as Force Works was once again gathered in their meeting hall, this time to compare notes.

"Nothing to refute what Adora was saying, and everything to confirm it." Namorita summerize.

"And if it comes to it, a few anti-Avengers tricks." Wiz Kid added proudly.

"Did you come up with that other thing I asked for?" Mirage inquired.

"Of course."

"Good." Danielle leaned back in her chair and thought about the risky task ahead of her team and the potential for things to go very wrong. She wondered if this was how Custer felt when he fought his last against her ancestors, "Okay, here's what we're going to do. We're going to fly to the West Coast and confront the Avengers with what we've found. I don't care if they're on a mission or at home, they are going to see us and we are going to get this matter resolved. But under no conditions do we throw the first punch or fire the first shot. And if it comes to a fight, we can't pull our punches. Earth's mightiest heroes isn't hyperbole. Understand?"

No one answered audibly, rather they allowed the awkward silence speak for them., and it spoke volumes.

"Good. Now lets head out and hope this is all a pointless exercise."

"I'm positive everything is fine," Tarene said reassuringly, "I mean, the Avengers are earth's mightiest heroes. They wouldn't let anyone join they didn't trust, would they?"

"I really don't trust that guy." Darkhawk muttered to himself as he observed Captain Marvel outside the quinjet window. The team had gotten a distress call from Blackhawk Airforce Base, something about an experimental generator being hijacked in transit, and Captain Marvel had, as always, shown up just in time to be apart of the mission. Like always, Captain Marvel choose to fly under his own power, apart from his teammates.

"What was that 'Hawk?" Vagabond asked from her seat in front of the former vigilant.

"Uhh, are we there yet?"

"We're almost there now, 'Hawk, hold your horses." Hawkeye answered from the pilot's seat. Within another thirty seconds, the quinjet was within the military base's airspace and Hawkeye thumbed the jet's communicator, "Marv! We're coming up on the base now. Cover us while we set down." Hawkeye looked over his shoulder at Warbird and Iron Man, "You two go help the star spangled kid, just in case."

The two Avengers said nothing as they stood up and left via the drop-hatch. They both suspected Hawkeye had sent them out for reasons other than to assist Captain Marvel, but kept those thoughts to themselves.

Hawkeye tensed his nerves as the quinjet flew over the main landing strip of the airfield. Even though three powerful Avengers were on hand to protect them while they landed, he knew from experience how easy it was for a single to slip past the most alert protectors. His nerves weren't helped in the slightest when he saw that, stationed at the end of the strip, were over two dozen heavily armed men casually standing about, as if waiting for something.

Surprisingly however, landing was easy. The men made no moves to attack whatsoever while Hawkeye set the quinjet down. As he jumped out of the quinjet, Hawkeye quickly accessed the situation. No airmen were in sight, and the two dozen men were all dressed in combat fatigues and carrying assault rifles were impossible to confuse with any serving military men. Five of the men (three men two women, actually), stood towards the front, wearing similar combat fatigues with special harnesses that glowed yellow and black which to Hawkeye's experienced mind clearly indicated superpowers.

And so, flanked by his teammates, Hawkeye decided to open a dialogue. To gauge the situation, if nothing else, "I don't suppose you guys have a perfectly good reason for being here, do you?"

A muscular, well built man stepped forward and said, "The name's Hardtime, and we're Shadowforce, Avenger. We're here for money and revenge against the government for using us as experiments." One of the men behind Hardtime grew to a height of 24 feet and regarded the Avengers with a contemptuous chuckle, "that good enough for you?"

"Nope," Hawkeye removed an arrow from his quiver, notched it in his bow and let it fly, where it harmlessly exploded against Hardtime's hardair shield, "Iron Man, get Paul Bunion! Warbird, Cap, take out their big guns while I get the boss! Rest of you, nail the cannon fodder!"

Earth's mightiest heroes leaped into action as the legendary battle cry went out, "Avengers Assemble!"

Iron Man rocketed towards the giant member of Shadowforce known as Oversize. Oversize pulled his fist back, intending to swat the much smaller man out of the air. Before he was able to put his plan into action, Iron Man unleashed a quick photon volley that blinded the behemoth.

"Yeearrg!" Blinded, the man never saw the haymaker that snapped his head backwards and dislodged several watermelon sized teeth.

"Ambush will tear you apart, little girl!" Vagabond barely ducked under the feral lunge (and subsequent claws) of the lion woman who'd chosen Priscilla as a sparring partner. As the woman continued on her path, Vagabond spun around to face her foe and quickly developed a plan.

"You? Pul-leeze! You're just some sad copy of some other two bit loser." Vagabond mocked.

With a snarl, Ambush attacked the Avenger exactly like before, even more intent on removing Vagabond's head from her shoulders. Only this time, Vagabond was prepared. As Ambushed soared towards her, Vagabond lashed out with the palm of her left hand and smashed it into Ambush's lower jaw while she reached out with her right hand and gripped the other woman's wrist whole she was still in midair. In one quick fluid motion, Vagabond pulled the stunned Ambush up and over and then slammed the woman back on the ground, **hard**. Ambush was out like a light.

"Booya!" Vagabond shouted triumphantly over Ambush's defeated form.

Captain Marvel observed his teammates defeat Shadowforce and their hired mercenaries with general disinterest. His teammates didn't need his power to defeat these men, so Genis thought it best to concentrate on why these men were here. He could sense that the energy generator that they'd been called in to protect was already spirited away, so why did the men remain? Genis could also sense that none of the airmen stationed at the base had signaled the distress call, another mystery. So Genis concentrated and focused his vast cosmic awareness on the situation. Soon, all would be laid out before him, clear as water..

Generally, the process took only a few seconds. But after twenty seconds of concentration, Genis, utterly astonished, found himself saying something he never thought he'd ever say again, "I...don't know."

In one smooth motion, Hawkeye leaped forward to dodge a giant solid air hammer that crushed the earth where he'd just been, pulled an arrow from his quiver as he rolled forward and leveled it at Hardtime, "Stand down buddy, or else. We've just about wrapped up your friends."

"That arrow won't do jack against my hardair shield, Avenger. I know what I'm doing." Hardtime sneered as he pulled his fist back for another shot.

Hawkeye clucked his tongue in irritation and left his shaft fly, "So do I. I'm not blind, by the way."

The shaft would have hit Hardtime right between the eyes were it not for his forcefield. It stuck the shield, snapped...and then exploded in a blinding burst of light. Hardtime shouted out in pain, but to his credit managed to keep his forcefield surrounding his body.

Hawkeye notched another arrow, but before he could fire it, a red haired woman sheathed in an orange and black forcefield like the X-Men's Cannonball, slammed into the ground twelve feet away like a run away comet. Her name was Airborne, and her costume was torn and frayed while her face looked like it'd just seen several barfights, but to her credit, she was still conscious, if only barely. She struggled to lift herself up with her hands, but after a second the effort became too much and she slumped unconscious.

"Hawk, stop playing around and finish the guy." Warbird sighed as she lowered herself to the ground, not a scratch or mark to be seen on her entire body. There was a minor tremor that followed that indicated that Iron Man had defeated his oppenent.

And so, without further delay, Hawkeye fired a tear gas arrow at Hardtime. Despite the fact that his forcefield protected him from almost all physical attacks, by it's very nature it was porous to allow the man within to still breath. Hardtime began hacking and wheezing as the tear gas burned his lungs and his eyes watered uncontrollably.

Turning away from his opponent, Hawkeye did a quick assessment of the battlefield. Dawkhawk and Two-Gun had mopped up the Shadowforce's hired help while Warbird, Iron Man and Vagabond had finished Shadowforce themselves while Captain Marvel...hovered several hundred feet above the airstrip.

"What the hell is he doing?" Hawkeye asked Warbird, astonished by the cosmic Avenger's random behavior in the middle of a fight. Carol simply shrugged her shoulders in response.

"Yo 'Hawk, these guys are fading out!" Vagabond cried out. The Avenging archer turned his attention towards the mercenaries. In particular, how they were slowly surrounded by blue globes on energy that shrank inwards, spiriting the men away with them.

"Jus' what in tarnation is goin' on?" Two-Gun Kid exclaimed.

"Damn it, they're teleporting out! Iron Man...!"

"I've got their teleporter frequency, Clint." Iron Man's filtered, electronic voice stated, unconcerned, "anywhere they go, we can follow. Wait..."

"What is it?"

"According to my sensors, there are two different frequencies leading to two different locations."

"We'll figure it out in a sec." Hawkeye pointed towards Captain Marvel, "but we need to have a little sit down with Cap about the concept of teamwork and following freakin' orders."

"Hawkeye, we may have another problem. My sensors just detected an unknown aircraft approaching our location."

"We've been made." X-Treme reported to Mirage as he and Arsenal guided the Stealthwing towards the Avenger's present location. Captain Marvel could be seen far in the distance thru glass of the main cockpit, but he fast approaching.

"Stay ready. I don't think he'll make a move in front of the others, but you never know." Mirage ordered, "we want to avoid a fight, if possible."

Captain Marvel struggled to get a reading of the craft that (unknown to him) carried Force Works, but it was proving damn near impossible. The plaut possessed by Nova emitted a special vibrational frequency that weakened the barrier between alternate realities in ways unpercievably to all but the most powerful of sensors and of course, those gifted with cosmic awareness. Every time he attempted to bring his powerful gift to bear with regards to Force Works, his mind was deluged with thousands upon thousands of possibilities, a world dominated by flying rodents, a world where an alein cast from his home planet was adopted by simple farmers and became his world's greatest hero, a flying purple dinosuar, and more still. His mind was forced to shut down his cosmic awareness lest he go mad from pure information overload.

In fact, his vast powers of knowledge could divine only one thing about these sudden new comers. Not that they were heroes, not that they came in prepared peace. No, whether it was his cosmic awareness, his barely developed and under trained personal instincts or something else entirely, he only knew one thing about these new comers for certain.

That, whoever these people approaching were, they knew one of his secrets. Genis knew this for a fact, otherwise why would they be armed with a devise specially designed to confuse and obstruct his cosmic awareness?

So Genis, cosmic protector and heir to the legacy of the great Captain Marvel, his father, did the only thing he could do in a situation like this.

He raised his negabands towards Force Works' plane...and fired.


	2. Chapter 2

**West Coast Avengers/Force Works**

**The Evil Men do, part 2**

**Misunderstandings**

The story thus far: Force Works was informed by reliable sources that the West Coast Avengers may have been infiltrated by a spy for the Kree Empire. The suspected traitor? Captain Marvel. At great reluctance, the team decided to confront the West Coast Avengers about their suspicions while the Avengers were in the middle of a mission. Captain Marvel, the suspected traitor and man with many secrets to hide besides, sensed Force Works coming but couldn't sense their intent. So with little hesitation, he opened fire on Force Works.

_300 hundred feet above Blackhawk Airbase _

It took Genis Vell, otherwise known as the cosmic protector Captain Marvel, less than three tenths of a second to channel enough power thru his nega-bands to level three city blocks, and project that energy towards the oncoming Stealthwing, bearing the hero team known as Force Works, though he wasn't privy to that information, only that whoever was approaching was somehow blocking his cosmic awareness. Though he feared the uncertainty and repercussions of what would follow such a brazen act, Genis knew as a certainty that the ship couldn't survive such a barrage of energy.

So quite naturally, he was dumbstruck when he saw the blasts of nega-energy pass harmlessly thru the craft as if it weren't even there at all. He felt a rush of air blast across his face, as if an aircraft had just passed by unseen and unheard only a few feet away, but that was impossible. Surely his cosmic awareness would alert him to such…

Then, he remembered that something or someone was dampening his cosmic awareness to the point he couldn't focus it at all. A something that was no doubt contained within that craft. He turned towards where the seemingly invisible aircraft had passed by, and began concentrating, building power and energy while he attempted to pierce the cloud of obscurity that hampered his cosmic awareness, all for a far more focused attack on the invisible (but not for much longer) aircraft. He would not be fooled again.

"Marvel!" An iron coated hand reached out and grabbed the cosmic protector by the wrist in a powerful, steel grip. Captain Marvel found himself whipped backwards towards the ground far below. He stopped his descent with a mental command easily enough, but found he was hovering with the angry Iron Man above him, and his fellow West Coast Avengers teammates, who had seen his rash act against an unknown jet and were all naturally curious and more than a little suspicious, below him.

"Just what the hell are you doing!" Iron Man demanded, completely livid. His gauntlets glowed threateningly with the emerald power of his repulsars as he addressed his fellow Avenger, "why did you attack that plane? This is an airbase Marvel; you could have fired on a U.S army aircraft!"

Captain Marvel searched for an answer that wouldn't inflame the precarious situation even further, that would sooth the concerns of his fellow Avengers, but found himself coming up empty. All he could think to say was, for the second time this day, "I…don't know."

Inside the Stealth Wing.

"Looks like your illusion saved our ass." Arsenal said with a sigh of relief as he brought the Stealth Wing around, back towards the airbase. X-Treme said nothing from the copilot's seat while Mirage, Force Works' leader, stood over their shoulder, "so what's the plan now?"

"Like I said at the briefing. Hit them hard and fast." Mirage said, her mask not betraying the anxiety she felt inside. Force Works had fought long and hard to be a respected hero team in the eyes of the world, and going up against the Avengers threatened all that, "lock and load."

"Easy for you to say, you're not the 'fast'." Speedball muttered as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

Nova glanced at Speedball, grinned, spat on his hands and rubbed them together in imitation of a classic seasoned baseball pitcher. It was a good day to be the Human Rocket.

"….nearly killed those people and that's your best excuse?" Iron Man primed his weapons systems and zeroed in on the Kree Avenger, and Captain Marvel, sensing that if nothing else, shot the golden Avenger an ugly look but said nothing in response. He sensed he didn't need to, because Hawkeye…

"Iron Man? Just what happened to the freakin' plane Marv shot at?" The Avenging Archer snapped.

"I don't know, I don't think it was hit. It's disappeared off my sensors." Iron Man stated, his anger over Marvel's conduct replaced by a more important concern, the welfare of civilians.

"Maybe they decided to land at LAX instead?" Vagabond suggested, "I mean let's chill out for a sec. Not like Marv actually hit anything."

Not one second after Vagabond proposed that alternative, some twenty feet away from the gathered Avengers, an aircraft remarkable similar to the Force Works Stealth Wing did a two hundred mile per hour nosedive at the edge of the landing strip. A plume of fire reached some twenty feet in the air as shrapnel fell from the sky like black and charred confetti.

"Oh my God, Marvel… how…" Warbird said breathless, as she spared a glance at the son of the man who once meant so much to her. But all she could spare was a single glance. Battle hardened and well trained instincts kicked in automatically for each and every Avenger. Captain Marvel's actions were almost consciously forgotten as the team rushed towards the crash site as one, desperate to save any possible survivors.

"Iron Man! Warbird! Get in there and start searching for survivors! Darkhawk, contain the fire with your forcefield!" Hawkeye notched an arrow filled with compressed flame retardant in his bow and let it fly towards the inferno that was once a plane. Quite naturally, he was somewhat confused when the arrow soared right thru the fire without stopping.

"Now… that's not supposed to happen." Hawkeye observed as he and the others slowly stopped sprinting and came to stop. The team had reached the wreckage, but noticed that while it was only about six feet away, they felt no heat whatsoever. Two-Gun Kid carefully stepped forward and put his hand out towards the fire.

"It's like a durn mirage…" He observed as he waved his hand thru the fire harmlessly.

"Iron Man?"

"I'm afraid I don't know what to tell you 'Hawk. My sensors are baffled. Half say there's a plane crash, half say there's nothing at all." Iron Man answered, "I'm also getting another weird reading above us, a sensor echo the size of a…"

Hawkeye saw something out of the corner of his eye and instinctively yelled "Get down!" as he tackled Two Gun Kid and Vagabond to the dirt. A speeding figure of red, yellow and blue slammed into the ground, rebounded towards Iron Man, ricocheted harmlessly off him into Warbird. Darkhawk saw that he was next on the list, and began to activate his force field when he recognized the bouncing missile.

"Speedball!"

The masked marvel slammed into Darkhawk and the momentum of the impact carried the two back towards the airfield.

"Speedball? Isn't he a member of that whatyamacallit team?" Hawkeye asked aloud as he picked himself up off the ground.

"Force Works." Iron Man hissed as he craned his head upwards. By now his sensors had pierced the Stealthwing's anti-detection devises, but it was too little, too late.

The assembled Force Works team looked down upon on the West Coast Avengers thru the drop hatch of the jet, their bodies tensed for battle. Before any attempts at negotiation could be made, Mirage gave Tarene, Arsenal and Wiz Kid a thumbs up. Tarene held her war mallet high in the air, as it began glowing with its God bestowed power.

"I think we need to…"

**-Ca-Thoom!-**

Hawkeye's next words were swallowed by lightning as wide as a SUV striking the ground not three feet away from the assembled team, and that was only the beginning. Optic blasts of crimson energy battered the earth between Avengers; psychic arrows chased them back towards the airfield while rubber bullets carefully herded them away from one another. Warbird, Iron Man and Captain Marvel placed their powerful bodies between their more fragile teammates and returned fire with their own respective energy blasts, but like with Captain Marvel's first attack, found that their counterattacks just passed harmlessly thru both Force Works and their plane.

"Let's go to work!" Mirage shouted. She kept concentrating on maintaining the illusion that she and her team were three feet above and to the right as she barked out orders to her team, "Nova, Marvel's yours! Hawkeye's mine! Remember your targets people, and remember the plan!"

Nova, Tarene, Arsenal and Kymaera flew forward from the Stealth Wing like precision guided missiles, while Mirage, X-Treme and Wolfsbane quickly repelled down special ropes extending to the ground. Wiz Kid, as ever, took his own method to the battle field, choosing to create a rocket pack to fly above and flank the Avengers.

Tarene flew straight towards Iron Man, who struck her with the full force of his mighty repulsars. Tarene slowed but didn't stop, as she gritted her teeth and pressed forward in the face of the energy onslaught.

"Uh-oh." Iron Man observed as Tarene closed the gap between him and her within seconds. Tarene raised her mallet above her head and swung downwards, smashing Iron Man's chest dead on like it was an oversized nail. The Golden Avenger's systems red-lined instantly and he plummeted towards the earth like a run away train.

Nova slammed into Captain Marvel's solar plexus at the speed of sound, expelling all the air from Captain Marvel's lungs with a pained -**whoosh!-**

As Genis was still painfully gasping for air, Nova arced upwards. With Genis' stomach still imprinted with Nova's fists, the two disappeared high into the air and lost amongst the sea of clouds. Moments later, flashes of light and sounds of battle could be heard from as far away as the ground below, some two thousand feet away.

Warbird saw Arsenal streaking towards her with his bone claws extended as if he was intent on gutting her. Warbird ducked to her left, and right into a powerful flying right cross from Kymaera. Warbird instinctively tried to backpedal to give herself room to recover, but a blast of pure red force slammed into her back and left her exposed to a left cross from the Atlantean princess.

As Force Works pressed their attack, their aircraft was utterly forgotten. However, it had its own mission to complete. Special cameras focused on each and every Avenger, scanning their bodies for traces of mind altering chemicals, evidence of mental manipulation or anything at all that might indicate the Avengers were not only who they appeared to be, but weren't under any outside mental influence.

As Hawkeye reached for an arrow, he found himself admiring the efficiency of the tactics that were being used against his team. Divide and conquer was a smart enough strategy, but with preplanned targets? He didn't see that a lot in his line of work.

Well, okay he did, but usually not from the good guys. That was more of a bad guy preferred tactic, and Hawkeye was informed enough about current events to know that Force Works weren't bad guys, far from it. So that naturally made him curious why they were even here at all, attacking his team with everything they had and more.

But, Hawkeye mused, that could be explained after all the bruises were properly handed out. Nobody attacked his team without paying the price, after all. Hawkeye withdrew an electro disrupter arrow from his quiver and drew a bead on Wiz Kid, whom was merely hovering above the battle field, simply observing. Hawkeye was about to fire, when trained hunter instincts' warned him that he was in the crosshairs of another's sights.

"So, you want to explain yourself here, or does this become good guy versus good guy fight number three thousand?" Hawkeye asked flippantly, his eyes turned towards Mirage while his bow remained aimed at Wiz Kid.

"Would you believe me if I said it's for your own good?" Mirage asked as she released three of her psychic arrows towards the Avenging marksman.

"If I said a nickel…" Hawkeye easily ducked under the first arrow, rolled forward to dodge the second…and barely stopped in time to avoid the last one as he came to his feet. It flew so close to his chest that he could almost taste the psychic energy in his mouth.

"Playing for keeps, huh?" Hawkeye commented as he withdrew several powerful arrows, "Well, I can do that too, lady. Let's go!"

"Force Works, huh?" Vagabond almost snorted, her fists raised and heart thumping in anticipation for a good fight as X-Treme and Wolfsbane rushed towards her and Two-Gun Kid, "looks like we're gonna have to take these kids over our knees and teach them a lesson!"

"Now just hol' up, Pris. Maybe these kids got a good explanation for this ruckus." The Legendary Western hero, the Two Gun Kid, warned. His pistols were raised and fingers within a hair's breathe of the trigger, but he hesitated about fighting. Something just didn't feel quite right here.

X-Treme quickly terminated any thoughts of negotiations as he sprang forward, landing between the two Avengers. X-Treme leapt into the air and released a round house kick that knocked the two Avengers apart from one another. X-Treme landed in a crouch, and then lunged at Vagabond who was still stumbling backwards.

"Damn and hell!" Two-Gun Kid swore as he barely ducked under Wolfsbane, fangs bared and sharp claws seemingly reaching for his throat.

Vagabond wasn't in much better shape. X-Treme attacked her with every last bit of skill and speed he could muster while Vagabond struggled to at least attempt to block as she backpedaled madly for room to breath.

A flattened palm to the center of her rib cage, a snap kick to her left knee, a left hook to the side of her head, a left back hand to her jaw. By the time she blocked one damaging punch or kick, X-Treme had already launched another attack. She never noticed the slight split second tingle that came from her left breast pocket when X-Treme launched an attempted nerve blow. The fact that his hand swept outwards towards his teammate Wiz Kid didn't register either. No, it wasn't until she was barely balanced on the balls of her feet, that Vagabond realized that not a single blow X-Treme directed towards her did anything more than brush up against her skin. That information did little to help Vagabond's balance as she threatened to tip backwards. Vagabond instinctively put her arms out to the side in an attempt to stay balanced. Of course, that left her wide open to X-Treme.

Vagabond watched helplessly as X-Treme, his face impassive cocked his right fist back, balled into a fist. Vagabond blinked for a split-second and it instantly there, his fist so close that she could smell the alien leather of his glove. Adam Sol's hand snapped open, startling Vagabond just enough so that she fell backwards on her rear.

Vagabond didn't get up instantly. Rather, she stayed down and did a mental assessment of the past twelve seconds.

"You copped a feel, you bastard!"

X-Treme looked at Vagabond, confused, "I did what now?"

Vagabond shot up, and charged forward with a snarl, "No one but no one cops a feel from me!"

Wiz Kid glanced over the Avengers communicator card that X-Treme had lifted from Vagabond. Though it was the size of a credit card, Taki's sensors revealed to him the incredible technological devise that he was gazing at. Specially crafted and encrypted G-8 processor chips capable of withstanding an electro magnetic pulse connected the average Avenger to an incredible wealth of classified or other potentially important information. Its communicator chip was another work of art, speeding vital data to the Avengers at lightning speed via a personal satellite connection. But the communicator card also represented something else to Taki.

The weakest link in the Avenger's collective armor. And one Armored Avenger in particular.

Sliding the card into a specially designed scanner, he began making preparations against one of the most powerful and dangerous Avengers present.

Even though every breath he took brought a slight stab of pain from his now bruised ribs, Tony Stark, otherwise known as the golden Avenger Iron Man, felt a small bit of smug pride. He'd defeated Force Works' strongest member in only a matter of seconds, and planned on disabling her once he'd gotten the information he needed from here.

While Tarene's attack didn't want for power or ferocity, it did lack for skill and cunning. Once away from his teammates, Iron Man struck Tarene with an ultra sonic attack that turned her world into one of side splitting pain. Iron Man then followed up with a flare attack at specific frequencies designed to induce dizziness. Those two combined attacks were more than enough to bring Tarene to her knees, and once down he surrounded her feet with a frictionless micro-thin force-field, preventing Tarene from rising to her feet in the unlikely event that she could fight off the effects of the dual sensory assault.

"Alright young lady, you're going to tell me what this is all about, and you're going to tell me **_now_**." Iron Man ordered. Though he'd ceased using his high pitched ultra sonics, he switched tactics slightly by using a low pitched sonic frequency that disrupted Tarene's inner ear functions while he continued using his gauntlets to produce a disorientating light show. Tarene could hear and talk, barely, but couldn't do much else.

"Captain Marvel…he's a traitor for some…big green alien head guy…" Tarene forced out thru gritted teeth. Iron Man's weapons were painful and even worse, in Tarene's opinion, unfair. Impotent rage began to bubble up as weapons she couldn't touch and couldn't fight held her power in check.

"The Supreme Intelligence?" Iron Man asked, astonished. While he had no idea on what information Tarene suspected Marvel to be a traitor, Iron Man also knew that the leader of the Kree Empire wasn't exactly public knowledge. And of course, there were Iron Man's own suspicions about the Kree Avenger.

"Iron Man, we have an emergency!"

Iron Man set the weapons he was using against Tarene on automatic as he turned his attention towards the Avengers communication frequency.

"What is it Pris?"

"You're been had." The statement was finished with a loud squeal of static. By the time Stark brought his hands up to his ears out of habit, every anti-virus warning was flashing on his HUD. Servos locked, and systems began shutting down.

"The problem with a communication card any idiot can use, is, well, any idiot can use it. And a genius can exploit it."

Iron Man, barely in control of his armor, spun around to see Wiz Kid aiming a large, high tech bazooka like devise directly at him. Wiz Kid pulled the trigger, and a round, cylinder devise the size of a bag of sugar flew out and slammed into Iron Man. Wire cords shot out from the side and wrapped themselves around the armored Avenger's waist. Iron Man grabbed the cords, desperate to pull them off, but the instant he gripped them, his armor seemingly exploded in a ball of pure white light.

"One cord is negative, one is positive." Wiz Kid stared forward emotionlessly, his eyes protected by special lenses, "combined with the magnetic force field that gives your armor its strength, and essentially, I've turned your armor into one big electromagnetic pulse."

The light burned brightly for several seconds as the pulse weapon vaporized itself while pumping enough juice into Iron Man's to light four city blocks. It died down quickly enough, to reveal Iron Man standing in the center with his hands on his hips and a look of anger plainly visible despite his emotionless faceplate as the steam billowed off his armor.

"Is that the best you can do?" He asked as he strode forward and snatched Wiz Kid's weapon out of his hands, "I decided to protect my armor against electromagnetic pulses a long time ago, kid."

Wiz Kid, seemingly unconcerned with the loss of his weapons, smiled and placed his hands behind his back casually, "I know. You only went down for a second and a half, if I calculated right. Stop."

Tony Stark's jaw dropped when his armor completely froze, unresponsive to his commands.

"You see, that virus I infected you with was designed to work in conjunction with the electromagnetic pulse." Taki explained, "when you rebooted, my virus became part of your armor's operating code. If it's done its job right, it's hijacked control of your communications system and connected directly with a supercomputer back at Force Works base, designed solely for the creation of computer viruses. For every one virus you defeat, it will send out two more nastier ones, learning from the first."

Stark activated several emergency backups and protocols thru his cybernetic link, and instantly regained control over his armor, albeit for the moment. Stark did a quick assessment of the virus and smirked, "Kid, with all this overkill, you should have realized something. I've been beating better than you, for a long, long time. Your bugs will be bugs on my windshield in about ten seconds."

"Perhaps, perhaps. But the main idea was to give her a chance to recover and the upper hand." Wiz Kid explained.

"Her?"

A white gloved fist smashed into the side of Iron Man's head and sent him flying thru the air. He landed a good fifty feet away, and was thankful he wasn't too steady on his feet at the time he was struck. It might have otherwise taken his head off. He looked to see Tarene rushing towards him, her eyes blood red in anger.

On instinct, he raised the palm of his hand and activated his repulsars. But instead of a smashing force of energy that would slow the godling so that he could formulate a defense, he instead recieved…

"Oh Hawkeye, you're _sooo_ manly…." A voice purred in a poor attempt to be seductive.

In a small panel on the right side of his HUD display, a scene showed a man and a women, in a state of undress, intertwined. What shocked Iron Man was not only the fact that the man and woman were undressed, but what they were dressed in (he couldn't look away if he wanted to, and he very much wanted to). The two…performers were dressed in imitation of his teammates and friends, as outraging as what they were forcing into his armor.

"PORN! That bastard is using porn against me?" Stark shouted, outraged with every fiber of his being.

Tarene tackled Stark about the waist a moment later, and squeezed **hard**. Pressure alarms went off, steel groaned loudly and Stark could feel his armor pressing against his skin uncomfortably dangerously fast. As the anti-virus alarms began screaming in his ears, Tarene tightened her bear hug , and flashing in his eyes as the porn rolled on and on, Stark began to very much doubt his continued existence.

Wiz Kid watched Tarene go to town on Iron Man. His only action was to brush his hands, and stroll away, "Now, for the third most dangerous Avenger."

Chris Powell released a darkforce blast from his chest, blasting Speedball back while he tried to comprehend why his friends were attacking his other friends. Speedball flew backwards several feet, but managed to redirect himself before being thrown too far.

"Speedy, what the hell are you guys doin' here and why are you attacking us?" Darkhawk demanded.

"Me? What are you doin' with these old folgies?" Speedball answered as he bounded at Darkhawk, "why aren't you in New York like every other self respecting hero and vigilante?"

"Trouble with the 'rents." Darkhawk ducked under Speedball's bounce and turned to face the hero, "seriously dude, why are you fighting us?"

Speedball brought himself to a stop and faced his friend. He generated two bubble bombs in his left hand, but didn't throw them, "Seriously? We think that Captain Marvel guy of yours is a spy, and he mighta mind controlled you guys too."

Darkhawk processed the information for a second, and found himself more than a little concerned. Captain Marvel was always aloof and short with his fellow Avengers, seemingly afraid to even consider being personal with any Avenger. Was it because he was secretly planning on betraying them?

Darkhawk put his hands out in a placating manner, "Okay, how can I prove that I'm not mind controlled?"

"Remember when we first met, Nova was juggling those cars?" Speedball asked

"That was the second time we met, wasn't it?"

"Hey, you passed!"

A pause.

"So…"

"So…"

"Wanna take bets on who's gonna win?"

"Dude, no contest. We're Avengers."

"And they let you join, what does that say? You think the Great Lake Avengers could whup us? I think not."

"Low blow. And now that you mention it…"

Kymaera, propelled by an energy blast to center of her rib cage, slammed into a pile of wooden crates, turning them into so many toothpicks. Though she didn't lose consciousness, her vision blurred and she struggled to draw a breath. Not only was the blast painful, but it was expertly placed.

"You know, I went on a date with your cousin, and he never called me back." Warbird stated as she hovered over Kymaera's pained form, "I don't suppose you know why?

Behind her, the battered and bruised Arsenal charged at Warbird's exposed back. Without so much as looking over her shoulder, Warbird pointed backwards and released three energy blasts, one several seconds after the other.

The first one struck Arsenal in his left wing, knocking him into the second blast which struck him in the chest. Before he could even hope to recover, the third and final blast struck him directly in the head. It was more force than energy, but it was more than enough to send him spinning head over heels to the ground.

"His… wife came back… to life." Kymaera groaned.

"Isn't that always the way?" Warbird sighed. Kymaera launched herself back into the fray despite the fact she was still reeling in pain

Warbird ducked under Kymaera's right hook and replied with a solid punch to Namorita's gut.

"One, you should tighten your stomach muscles for a punch before you throw the punch." Warbird advised as she pulled her left arm back. Warbird struck Kymaera across the jaw and made the princess see stars on the edge of her vision, "Two, tuck your head slightly in a fight. It makes taking a punch easier. And three…"

Warbird shot up into the air suddenly, and Arsenal came barreling thru where she'd just been, slamming into Kymaera. Before they could untangle themselves, Warbird drew her foot backwards and punted Arsenal in the rear. Both he and Kymaera were sent careening thru the air, far, far away like an expertly kicked football.

"Always be aware of your surroundings. Wiz Kid, right?"

Warbird turned to face Force Works' resident genius, whom was aiming a small laser pistol attached to his wrist.

"Correct. Good bye, Warbird."

Wiz Kid activated the blaster, and a blue streaming trail of energy shot out and slammed into Warbird before she could even move. Warbird however, wasn't overly concerned. Her body absorbed the energy harmlessly, though she began glowing blue as a side effect of all the power she was absorbing.

"Nice try, but I absorb energy genius." Warbird snapped as she fired off a bolt of energy at Wiz Kid. The blast was stopped by an invisible force field created by Wiz Kid's tech pack, but it's main purpose was to gauge the technological genius's defenses. Warbird knew he couldn't physically take the same amount of damage as his other two teammates.

"This I know."

Wiz Kid aimed another laser pistol at Warbird and fired. The energy discharged was colored green, and traveled too fast for Warbird to avoid.

The energy struck Warbird squarely in the chest. Warbird fell to the earth and clutched her stomach, her sweat instantly transforming into steam as her body temperature sky rocketed. Her blood felt as if it was burning while her body felt as if it were about to explode. Warbird could feel the energy she'd absorbed beginning to spill out, and fought like mad to keep it in, but her powers didn't respond.

Whether Warbird screamed or not as all her stored energy tore out of her body in one large explosion, Taki didn't know. Where Warbird had landed looked like a bomb has just been dropped, the ground uprooted with smoke and steam billowing into the air at its center.

"Beta particles and negatively charged gamma particles don't mix." Once again brushing his hands clean, Wiz Kid began contemplating the next foe to attack. He didn't even bother to examine whether or not Warbird was alright, and why should he? He ran three dozen simulations covering different scenarios. So long as her genetic baseline was human, her energy absorption powers would be crippled for the next twelve hours. Best to decide another target, he thought. Hawkeye would make Mirage indebted to him, but Two-Gun Kid would likely be an easier fight and tip the odds in his team's favor. Decisions, decisions…

"You little troll!"

Warbird tore out of the smoke and steam, her hands outstretched and reaching for Wiz Kid's throat. Thankfully, Wiz Kid ducked under her speeding form at the last instant and Warbird was flying too fast to turn back around too quickly.

"Okay, slight miscalculation." He confessed, body temperature slightly rising.

An energy blast shattered his force field like so much cheap glass.

"I'm going to rip your throat out by way of your ass!" Warbird roared as she blasted towards the young genius, both fists glowing brightly with her star-born power.

Wiz Kid formed his tech pack into a jetpack and speeded off in the opposite direction of Warbird, powerful blasts chasing him every step of the way. Warbird kept after him, and the chase was on.

Above the battlefield, still forgotten, the Stealth Wing had completed its mission. Analyzing the physical movements of the WCA, and running dozens of sensor scans, it came to the only conclusion its sophisticated computers could reach. The West Coast Avengers weren't under any form of mind-control whatsoever.

"Situation negative." The Stealth Wing sent out a preprogrammed codeword that told the members of Force Works that the West Coast Avengers weren't under any outside mental influence. But of all the members of Force Works, only Mirage, locked in combat with Hawkeye, took note of it.

Her battle with Hawkeye was largely inconclusive; though she was thankful she'd taken some precautions before challenging the Avenging archer. Special contact lenses countered Hawkeye's flares arrows, special hearing aids protected against his sonic arrows while her mask protected her against his gas arrows.

But that left the blunted arrowhead that had smacked against her temple, the regular arrow that'd just come within inches of being embedded in the bone in her left shoulder instead leaving a deep cut and the blast arrow here and there that kept breaking her stride.

Hawkeye was doing a little better, but not by much. Mirage had several near hits with her own personal arrows, even though Hawkeye was just as fast on his feet. To be fully effective, they needed to strike a person's head or chest. Hawkeye was quick enough to deny Mirage a shot like that, he wasn't fast enough to prevent her from hitting his right arm. It felt sore and tender as a result, like it had been sunburned and fallen asleep, all at once. Combined with the occasional illusion and it was screwing up his aim enough to prevent him from ending this quickly, though he suspected he couldn't do that if he wanted too.

Both Mirage and Hawkeye allowed their battle away from their teammates, confident both in their teammates abilities to handle themselves, and their ability to handle each other. In regards to the latter, both were beginning to suspect that faith was just a little bit misplaced.

"I've got good news for you Hawkeye, you're not under mind-control." Mirage stated as she ducked under a taser arrow.

"Oh, that's a relief. I guess sleeping with that tinfoil hat paid off!" Hawkeye notched another arrow.

"Can we talk?"

Hawkeye let his arrow fly, "You attack me and my team, and you wanna talk? Sorry girl, but the only way we're talking is under **_my_** terms."

Mirage half expected Hawkeye to say that (hell, she'd do the same in his position) but she didn't let his refusal break her stride. She observed that he'd fired the last shot (which came within inches of her head) a little sluggishly. And since long distance battle wasn't accomplishing jack, she decided to continue this fight up close.

Hawkeye stepped forward while reaching for another arrow as slowly as possible without being too suspicious. He too recognized trading arrows back and forth with Mirage would take too long and he was as confident in his hand to hand combat skills as he was in his archery skills. Mirage closed the gap between them in seconds, just like Hawkeye expected her to.

Dani threw a left hook that Hawkeye sidestepped with ease. He nailed Mirage in the stomach with a solid gutpunch that expelled the air from her lungs with a –whoosh!-. Before he could press his attack, Dani's left elbow slammed into the corner of his eye. Shifting her weight again, Dani then smashed her other elbow into the side of Hawkeye's head. Hawkeye, acting on autopilot, struck Dani across the back of her head with his right fist.

The two combatants stumbled away from each other for a split second, both in equal amounts of pain before throwing themselves at each other again. Dani let loose a snap kick that Hawkeye blocked, but deflected his next punch with the side of her wrist. The two fought back and forth hard, each calling upon not only their years of experience but the moves and skills taught to them by those who'd guided them into the hero business.

Mirage called upon the training she received at the hands of Magneto, Nightcrawler, Wolverine, SHIELD and the battle training she employed as a chooser of the slain as she fought to find an opening in Hawkeye's defenses.

Hawkeye called upon his training under the command of Captain America to best defend himself from the mutant hero. Only one man, but it was more than enough for any foe.

The two fought back and forth for an eternity that spanned three minutes before both saw the same opening. Hawkeye faked a right, and ducked his head forward for a meeting of heads with Mirage. But unfortunately for him, Mirage had the same idea. Their thick skulls crashed together with a loud –**crak**!- and the two veteran heroes stumbled away from one another again.

Hawkeye shook his head to clear the stars and pulled another arrow from his quiver. As soon as his vision cleared, he found himself surrounded by fire. While the Avenging Archer didn't fear being burned in the least (he knew her tricks now), he was concerned about the fact that he could no longer see his quarry. The fire quickly evaporated to reveal a baker's dozen of the same image. Mirage, her bowstring pulled back and armed with her trademark psychic arrows.

"Ready to talk now?" A voice asked, but Hawkeye couldn't tell from where. He suddenly wished that he'd pulled a flare arrow from his quiver. The blinding light it would have released wouldn't have affected Mirage, but it would have at least washed away her illusions.

"One good shot is all I need to end this." Hawkeye thought to himself. He eyed the multiple Mirage's carefully. Of the eleven illusions, only one possessed a shadow and was crushing the grass underneath its foot. Hawkeye instantly knew his target, and with speed that would make Quicksilver proud, spun around and shot his arrow directly at Mirage with such speed and accuracy she couldn't have dodged even if she had known it was coming.

So it was with great shock that Hawkeye watched his arrow pass thru it's intended target. His world exploded in pain, and he fell to his knees as images of his dead wife danced in his head.

"I know mirages like you know arrows." Dani explained as she walked up behind Hawkeye. She created another one of her arrows and aimed it at the back of Hawkeye's head, "ready to talk now?"

Despite the fact that it felt like the Hulk had used his head a punching bag, Hawkeye smiled, "I know a whole hell of a lot more about this business than just arrows too."

In one fluid motion that caught Dani completely by surprise, Hawkeye reached behind his head with both hands and grabbed Mirage by her wrists. Hawkeye wasted no time in pulling her forward and flipped Dani over on her back, **_hard_**.

"Like how to really play possum."

However, by the time what he hoped was his final arrow was in his bow, Mirage had already created another one of her personal arrows.

"Stalemate. Wanna talk?"

"That's assuming you grabbed an arrow, and not one of my mirages."

Hawkeye observed his arrow disappear and then return.

Hawkeye smirked, "That mighta worked on a rookie, but not me. Now, can we both stop this pissing contest and get down to business?"

Hawkeye paused to reflect.

"And I'd never thought that it'd be **me** saying **that** to a **woman**."

"Talk? Fine. How open are you to the possibility that your Captain Marvel is a spy for the Kree Supreme Intelligence?"

Hawkeye lowed his bow and stepped back, though he kept the arrow notched "Does this answer your question?"

Mirage set aside her own weapons and slowly picked herself up off the ground with a muffled groan, "Yeah, I guess it does."

"How sure are you about this?"

"I'm here, aren't I?"

Hawkeye and Mirage looked at one another, their eyes meeting in mutual understanding.

"Okay. Call your guys off, I'll get mine and I think both teams will have a little sit down with Marv."

"Deal."

Two-Gun Kid tried to think of another time when he'd fought something or someone who appeared so animalistic, but acted so human even in combat. Even though Wolfsbane had him at a disadvantage in terms of speed and strength, the seasoned gun slinger knew more than enough tricks to keep the young mutant at bay while he tried to figure what in the Sam hill was goin' on here. Heck, he suspected that no matter how old the girl got, she wouldn't even reach his level of skill. Two quick shots had forced the young werewolf back, and the two combatants began circling one another, searching for an opening or some weakness in their foe.

Wolfsbane eyed Two-Gun Kid carefully. She was letting the fact that the man used guns get to her in the worst way possible. Like many heroes, she'd had bad experiences with guns. And not just the run of the mill, being shot at big nameless thugs. No, it was far more personal than that. When her mutant powers first manifested, she'd had to dodge bullets to save her life. She still had the scar on her right shoulder from one bullet that met its mark. Her first love had been killed by a simple handgun. As such, guns always brought up unpleasant feelings and emotions, especially in the hands of an expert. So try as she may, she couldn't quite banish those thoughts from her mind no matter how much she wanted too.

Finally, fed up with waiting, Wolfsbane attacked with a snarl. Her uniform was bullet proof after all, and she'd make this cowboy eat those guns.

Of course, Two Gun Kid had different ideas. He fired four shots in rapid succession at Wolfsbane. The four shots impacted Wolfsbane's chest not an eighth of an inch away from their fellows. And despite the fact her uniform was indeed bulletproof, four bullets clustered together with such accuracy felt like a sledgehammer to the chest. Rahne fell backwards like a doll with its strings cut.

Two-Gun Kid watched Wolfsbane shift back into her human form as she fell unconscious and wondered if there was a rock nearby he could just crawl under and die. She didn't even look old enough to drink, these days at least…

"You bastjak!"

Two-Gun Kid turned around, four more shots rang out and four blades rushed past his body, missing by a large margin. When he would reflect on it later, the legendary gunslinger would realize that he'd fired off the four shots to deflect blades that were aimed for some rather vital parts of his body. But right now, he was just thankful his reflexes were a whole hell of a lot faster than even he knew.

X-Treme, who'd all but forgotten his fight with Vagabond, didn't bother to take out more blades. Rather, he locked hate filled eyes with Two-Gun Kid while he unsheathed one of his nastier (and thus more reliable) war-knives.

"You're going to pay for that one, I promise you that."

"Talkin' ain't never won a fight, boy." Two Gun said simply.

Vagabond looked at her teammate, and then back at X-Treme, stunned beyond belief. Not that Two-Gun Kid showed. No, she was blown away by how easily X-Treme had just turned away from her to challenge Two-Gun. Like she was little more than an afterthought.

"Well, I'll teach him." She thought to herself. Balancing perfectly on one foot, she shifted her weight as she spun around and let loose the perfect round house kick aimed at X-Treme's smug head.

She felt her leg stop sharply and wasn't concerned at first. A moment later, when she found she couldn't move her leg from its position, she was. She looked and saw that X-Treme had caught her kick without even looking sideways. When he looked at her a second later, Vagabond could only say one thing in response to his look of annoyance and anger.

"Eep."

"Adam, stand down." A voice said over his Force Works communicator

X-Treme pushed Vagabond aside and activated his comm. Unit, "What is this? Rahne…"

"I know. We attacked first, remember? Stand. Down. Now."

Adam sheathed his knife reluctantly, "Another time."

Adam then sprang into the air. Two Gun Kid and Vagabond tried to follow his path with their eyes, but the alien warrior disappeared into the sun. He landed in a crouch, behind Two-Gun Kid and Wolfsbane. Without so much as sparing the two Avengers another glance, he began tending to the woman he loved.

Warbird gripped Wiz Kid by his collar, and drank in the look of concern on his bruised face as she drew her fist back,

"I don't like it when people try out their experiments on my body, you smug bastard! And nobody gets away with it, ever." She spat

An arrow flew between Wiz Kid and Warbird.

"That's enough Carol."

"Says who?" Carol spat, "Just give me another three minutes, 'Hawk. All I need."

"I said, that's enough. Don't push me Carol, because I've got bigger things on my plate than your attitude."

Warbird reluctantly released Wiz Kid's collar and glared at Hawkeye, "And what might that be?"

Iron Man felt himself lifted into the air when Tarene's gloved fist smashed across his armored face. For better or worse, he was smashed back to the earth by Tarene's other fist, this one carrying her war hammer. While he was still reeling from the assault, she drew her foot back and punted Iron Man away like a soccer ball.

Iron Man soared over the green grass surrounding the airfield like a stone across water, striking the ground before skipping up and being carried further by his momentum once, twice… then colliding with the side of a hangar and becoming embedded like a fly in amber.

Iron Man struggled to extricate himself before Tarene was upon him once again, but that was far easier said than done. The computer virus his armor had been infected with had made the armor slow, sluggish to respond to even the simplest of commands, making it all but impossible to bring his many weapons systems to bear against his foe.

In the past, Iron Man had always wondered how he would fare against his fellow Avengers founder, Thor. Sure, they'd skirmished here and there due to mind control or some such, but Iron Man could always sense his old friend holding back on some level. Now, having faced the unbridled fury of Tarene, Iron Man found himself thankful for that.

The Iron Avenger pulled himself out of the hangar wall, and felt his blood run cold when his armor powered down, and refused to answer his commands to reactivate.

Unknown to Tony Stark, the virus Wiz Kid had infected the Iron Man armor with had erased the memory of Tony Stark's brainwaves from the command protocols. Tony Stark had spent so much time on his armor, figuring out ways lock out outside controls from commandeering his armor and using it like a puppet no matter what, he'd never considered the possibility that someone would just plain old lock him out and not bother trying anything else.

Of course, being Tony Stark, he had several failsafe protocols designed that provided blanket protection against any dozens of possible failures. The armor would be back online in thirty seconds, at the most.

Sadly, Tarene was only fifteen seconds away and closing faster. Her eyes were blood red with fury while her war hammer crackled with electrical power. Tony Stark reassured himself he'd been in worse situations before, but none sprang to mind.

"Tarene, that's enough."

Iron Man observed Tarene freeze in her tracks as Mirage strode forward, arms calmly swaying at her sides, "We've got a cease fire going on, and you should have pulled back when you heard the Stealthwing radio everything was clear."

Tarene looked away like a child scolded for misbehavior, "Sorry, Dani."

Mirage turned towards Iron Man, who's armor banged up and dented, certainly looked like it had seen better days, "Are you alright?"

His armor reactivated and at full power, Stark stared at Mirage thru his armor's eye slits, "Am I supposed to take your word that our teams have a cease fire? You attacked me…us unprovoked, nearly get me killed and now you want to talk? That's rich, believe me, I should know."

"She's telling it straight." Iron Man turned his head to see both Force Works and the West Coast Avengers walking thru the grass towards he and Mirage. Some were limping while others were glaring at members of the opposing team yet no one was anywhere near throwing a punch. That was certainly an improvement from ten minutes ago.

"What's the deal, Hawkeye? Why are we even bothering to talk to these punks?" Iron Man demanded.

"Friendly type, isn't he?" Speedball asked Darkhawk.

"You have no idea, man."

"We may have a fox in our hen house." Hawkeye answered, "We need to find Marvel."

"Marvel…"Iron Man growled.

"He was Nova's target." Wiz Kid stated, "so where are they?"

It was a bad day to be Nova the Human Rocket. Powerful blasts of nega beam energy slammed into his chest, firing off every pain receptor in Nova's brain. Each and every breath was like knives to his lungs while his body painfully absorbed the energy. Nova quickly fired it back at its original owner, but Captain Marvel blocked the beam with a dismissive gesture, and fired off two more blasts that taught Nova new meaning to the word pain. He struggled to stay aloft while Captain Marvel regarded him with an odd look of distain and amusement.

"You may wish to inform the scientists of the Nova Corps that this devise works best when kept away from me." Captain Marvel crushed the plaut devise that'd dampened his cosmic awareness allowing Force Works to approach him unawares.

"You deserve this so freakin' much."

Nova shot forward, his fist pulled back in hopes of landing a powerful haymaker on Captain Marvel's smug jaw. Sure, the guy was more powerful than him. Sure, he knew more stuff. But he wasn't so much stronger it mattered and he certainly didn't have Nova's speed. That would be what won the fight, Nova decided.

Captain Marvel didn't need Nova's speed, though. He'd sensed the move coming a mile away figuratively, and moved aside while leaving his arm stretched out to catch Nova. It worked, and Nova ran head first into a superspeed close-line.

"That hurt you so much more than me, I hope you realize. You're a failure, Rider."

Captain Marvel gripped Nova by the collar and slammed his fist into Nova's helmeted head, making the Human Rocket see stars, "Can't hold a job, can't live a normal life…"

A punch to the ribs, nearly breaking them, "Your father would be so ashamed. You're a black spot on his legacy!"

A right hook that sent sweat and blood flying off Nova's face, "What an idiot you are, Richard! Trying to live up to an ideal and trying to be what everyone else thinks you should be and failing every time!"

This time it was a left hook that loosened teeth, "No wonder you took the easy way out! No wonder everyone hates you now!"

Captain Marvel grabbed Nova by the neck, and brought him so close Nova could smell the protons on Captain Marvel's face, "Not much of a choice, was it? To be hated, or laughed at? Sneered for not being as great as your father was in his lifetime when you've barely started yours. The logic there…it's maddening."

Nova spat a glob of blood in Captain Marvel's face, and forced out a smile, "You were already nuts, buddy."

Nova kicked free, and his body began to glow blood red. Even though he'd been getting his ass kicked the entire fight, Nova had stored away a small amount of energy from each painful blast Captain Marvel unleashed and was calling upon all that energy and more now to throw at Captain Marvel. His Nova burst, his most powerful weapon, had to be enough to take down Captain Marvel. It had to be.

Captain Marvel didn't so much as move as incredible amounts of energy lashed out from Nova and washed over his form. Nega energy combined with Nova force intermingled to create a powerful stream of energy capable of destroying most anything in its path. It took Nova a full twenty seconds to release all the energy he'd absorbed, and he felt like road kill once he was done. He was so exhausted in fact, he almost didn't notice the figure that was calmly floating where the energy railroaded thru.

Captain Marvel crooked his head to the side with a devil's grin, "Is that your best shot?"

"H…how?"

"I toughed out the first ten seconds with my force fields, and then felt like absorbing the rest." Nova observed how Captain Marvel's nega bands seemed to pulsate with renewed power.

"I think I've gotten my second wind, how about you?"

"Marvel!"

Iron Man rose up between Captain Marvel and Nova, his demeanor intensely serious, "We need to have a discussion down below. Now."

Captain Marvel folded his arms across his chest, "About what?"

"We'll discuss it on terra firma."

Captain Marvel snorted, "What's so important about doing it there, Iron Man? I feel fine here. Are you really going to force me down just for a 'discussion'?"

"No…"

"But I will!"

Tarene struck the distracted Captain Marvel across the back with her war hammer, and the cosmic hero's concentration broke. He tumbled thru the air towards the earth like a parachuter whose parachute had malfunctioned. Before he could right himself, he struck the earth, kicking up a small cloud of dust. Physically, he was more than fine. It was a lucky shot more than anything else, and Captain Marvel could have survived that fall even without his energy powers.

Captain Marvel coughed, and looked up to see Hawkeye standing in front of him, with an arrow notched. His fellow Avengers and what he'd guessed to be Nova's teammates (only one of whom he recognized) had him surrounded.

"Hawkeye, what's the meaning of this?"

"We've got some questions, Marv, and if we don't get some answers, over a dozen heroes are gonna tap dance on your head and freakin' enjoy it."

Next issue: Will Marv spill the beans? Will Iron Man forgive Force Works for using porn against him? And what the heck was Shadowforce up to(remember them?) anyways? All this next issue!


	3. Chapter 3

**West Coast Avengers/Force Works**

**The Evil Men do, part 3**

**Rocky Explanations**

The story thus far: Force Works has been informed that Captain Marvel may be a traitor within the ranks of the West Coast Avengers. After a prolonged battle with the Avengers, the team managed to convince them that they may be right, and together, the two super teams confronted Captain Marvel.

_Blackhawk Airbase_

"We've got some questions, Marv," Hawkeye growled, an explosive arrow notched and ready to go, "and if we don't get some answers, over a dozen heroes are gonna tap dance on your head and freakin' enjoy it."

Genis-Vell carefully considered his options before answering. The entirety of the West Coast Avengers and Force Works was now staring him down, and he didn't need his cosmic awareness to sense their hostility. As much confidence as he had in his powers, he still hesitated to do anything that might piss them both off, "What are your questions, Hawkeye?"

"Are you or are you not working with the Supreme Intelligence?"

One second passed, then another, while collective weapons and powers of the two teams were trained at the young Kree.

"Well?" Demanded Vagabond.

"It's…complicated," the Cosmic Protector answered truthfully.

"Many things are that needn't be," Wiz Kid commented.

"Then why don't ya make it easy on us, kid?" Two-Gun Kid asked.

"Genis, no one's looking for a fight here," X-Treme stated. Captain Marvel barely gave a nod towards the young hero with whom he shared a life changing adventure, "we just want answers."

With an angry sigh, Captain Marvel raised his hands towards the collected, "Fine. You want the truth? Then here it is!"

With speed that would make Quicksilver look twice, Captain Marvel expanded his cosmic awareness outwards so that it encompassed virtually all the heroes present. And what they saw came in snippets, flashes like a waking dream that they could somehow sense in the core of their being was the absolute truth.

The heroes saw flashes of a powerful towering enemy.

"Well...?"

A painful sacrifice, obscured by overwhelming emotions of failure.

"WHAT YOU DID WAS..."

"Impressive?"

"So we have a deal?" Marv asks.

"YES...THE RU'UL WILL PROTECT EARTH FROM EXTRA-GALACTIC THREATS. IF A THREAT EVEN THINKS ABOUT CROSSING INTO THE MILKY WAY, THEY WILL BE ELIMINATED."

All told, the heroes saw everything and nothing at all, so overwhelming was the information overload to their mental systems. The only lasting impressions were those which Marvel felt best suited him, need, necessity and duty with just a sliver of information regarding how the young Captain had formed his alliance with the Supreme Intelligence.

"That's enough Marvel!" Iron Man barked as he aimed a repulsar at his cosmic teammate as the collected heroes were brought to their knees by the information Captain Marvel was forcing on their senses.

"So your armor can stop my cosmic awareness," Genis noted, "Impressive."

The Golden Avenger diverted even more power into his repulsars, "I meant what I said, Marvel. That's enough!"

"You really should get a gun or some such, the visuals of you pointing the palm of your hand are just lacking."

"I'm warning you…!"

"Cool it Shell-head," A voice croaked weakly, "we're okay."

Iron Man looked to see the two teams had come to their senses, although somewhat disheveled.

"Man," Speedball coughed, "that gives whole new meaning to cramming! Is he always this way?"

Darkhawk rubbed his sore, cyborg head, "No, this is one of his more social days."

"Tell me, Nova Prime," Captain Marvel stared at the Human Rocket dispassionately, "are you now satisfied that you know the extent of my alliance with the Kree? I'm certain Adora will be adamant about a full report."

Nova rubbed the back of his neck, trying to clear the fog of his mind, "Yeah, I guess we're good."

"But we're not," Iron Man snapped, now that things had settled just a little bit more, "just what the hell do you think you're doing barging in on one of our missions!"

"It's not like we came looking for a fight!" Mirage yelled back, "it was your boy who fired on us, remember?"

"Boy?" Captain Marvel looked offended, though no one much cared.

"You people didn't come here to talk," Iron Man snapped back as he marched towards Force Works' leader, "you charged in here full force with battle tactics and weapons specifically designed to take us down! I doubt peaceful discussion was the first thing on your agenda. I never should have let your have the name Force Works if I knew you were prone to such violence!"

Mirage stepped forward so that the two heroes were within inches of one another, face to face but hardly eye to eye, "You didn't let us have the name, Avenger. We took it. We're keeping it. Get used to it. And what the hell did you expect us to do? You're the freakin' Avengers! If your teammate was compromised, what would you have us do? Smash your fists with our face? Seems like you guys trusted Cap as much as us!"

"Is that stick always that far up her ass?" Darkhawk whispered to Speedball.

"Has the sky always been blue?"

Iron Man pointed an accusing finger at Moonstar like a gun, "Now you see here…!"

"Okay, okay, that's enough, both of ya!" Hawkeye put himself between the two heroes and pushed them apart, "time out, both of you!"

Hawkeye pointed towards Iron Man, "Chill, Shell head. They're right, they didn't fire the first shot and we shouldn't hold it against them if they came prepared. That's just common sense."

Hawkeye then pointed towards Mirage, "Don't look too smug. You guys were a little too quick to throw down, even if Cap threw the first punch. And you shouldn't have tried to confront us during a mission. That's just asking for trouble, and **_that's_** common sense."

Both Iron Man and Mirage wanted to say something, but Hawkeye's glare discouraged them both.

"We clear?"

The two muttered something unintelligible.

"Good. Now, if you kids don't mind…"

"Kids?" Nova snorted.

"Brats, punks, whatever," Hawkeye continued, "we were about to go after some losers named Shadow Force. If we have your permission…"

"Shadow Force?" Wolfsbane asked incredulously.

Unnoticed by all in the background, Wiz Kid scanned a palm pilot like devise to Nova, who then silently took to the air.

"Yeah, they politely told us their names before trying to kill us," Vagabond answered.

"I fought them wit' X-Factor," Rahne began, "they were created by a black-ops government program. When we exposed an' shut them down, they were all given treatments ta' remove their powers."

"So? People get their powers back all the time," Warbird observed.

"So when this was all revealed, the government got Forge, Hank Pym and Reed Richards ta cure them," Wolfsbane continued, "ye think jus' any mad scientist can do that?"

"Translated, there's more going on than what we can see," Warbird commented, "per usual."

"Is it usual that villains signal the Avengers for a fight after a successful theft?"

The West Coast Avengers gave Wiz Kid, who held what looked like hi-tech metal basketball in his hands, wires and electrodes hanging out of it.

"Min' jus' tell us what the Sam Hill's you're talkin' about Kid?" Two-Gun asked. The Western Legend tipped his hat back, "you sayin' those buzzards wanted us to kick their backsides?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Wiz Kid answered, "Look around you. We're at a military base, but where are the civilians and personnel?"

The Avengers, along with a few members of Force Works, looked around and then at one another.

"Okay, now just how did we miss that?" Speedball said aloud.

"They carefully shut down the base with this," The young genius tossed the metal ball he'd been holding to Iron Man. It was roughly the size of a medicine ball. "I had Nova find that when I realized no one had reacted to all the destruction we caused. I hacked the communications of the base, and discovered that the call to your headquarters was placed after the base was subdued, and I presume, they took what they wanted."

The Iron Avenger glared at Wiz Kid, "Hacked?"

"Open that sphere, Avengers, and you'll see that we have much bigger concerns than my lack of tact."

Stark activated a small but powerful welding laser and began slicing through the outer layer like a knife through a birthday cake. Once he'd cut a handhold, he slipped his armored fingers in and peeled the top half back.

Those who didn't gasp almost vomited. Those who didn't almost vomit muttered a prayer or two. Wiz Kid and Iron Man were the only exceptions.

Inside the metal ball, pierced with all kinds of syringes and wires, was a human head. The face was caked with blood and any layman could see the man didn't die painlessly.

"He was a telepath most likely," Wiz Kid stated, "killed so that they should shut this base down while they lured you here."

Iron Man closed the metal globe and placed it on the ground, anything to get it out of his hands, "I trust you have a point?"

"I think I speak for my team when I say when I say that we don't want this misunderstanding to affect our reputation. We'd like to help."

Iron Man glared at the young hero, and then spun around, "No. Your reputation will survive one misunderstanding fight."

A blunt arrow ricocheted off the back of the Golden Avenger's head.

"Hawkeye…"

The purple archer shrugged, "Hey, they wanna help. You know as well as I do that if we screwed up one of their missions…"

"We wouldn't have," Iron Man said sharply.

"If we screwed up one of their missions, we would want to make it right." Hawkeye finished. He then looked towards Mirage, "And I'll bet my best bow you guys still don't trust Cap."

Mirage crossed her arms across her chest, "You better believe it. If we're going to give a report to an alien ruler, I'd like to be absolutely certain we're right."

"Sounds fair to me," Hawkeye observed, "Besides, I seem to recall you saying something about two teleport signals. We both know these guys want us to follow them. They may be prepared to fight a divided West Coast Avengers, but not a united Avengers Force Works combo."

"Man, that was almost inspirational," Speedball murmured to Darkhawk, "interested in a trade?"

"I'm more than willing to help, but I'll be damned if I take orders from someone who doesn't respect me and my team!" Mirage snapped.

"Not on your life."

Hawkeye put his hands up in a placating gesture, "Easy there chief. You'll lead one team, Shell head leads the other. I don't have a problem following a good looking woman."

Mirage smiled despite herself. The archer had the worst lines, but his straight forward honesty and bluntness was disarming, to say the least. It wasn't hard to see why he led the Avengers.

"How are we dividing the teams?" Mirage asked.

Hawkeye, Mirage, Iron Man and Nova held a quick huddle as they conferred on information and deployment. After several minutes, they turned to face their team.

"Okay, here's the situation," Hawkeye started, "the two signals lead to France and Africa. Me, Mirage, X-Treme, Captain Marvel, Wiz Kid, Vagabond, Tarene, and Wolfsbane will take the African one. Iron Man, Kymaera, Two Gun Kid, Darkhawk, Nova, Speedball, Arsenal and Warbird will take France. We'll beat up whoever we find and compare notes afterwards. Any questions?"

Speedball's hand shot up, "Who gets dibs on the Quinjet?"

"From what I remember, last time three of you took a ride in a Quinjet, it ended up stolen," Hawkeye said matter of factly.

"To be fair, we stole it to save the world from an evil sorceress," Kymaera defended.

"Yeah, and Darkhawk was there too!" added Speedball.

"Hey! Leave me out of this!" the Dark Vigilant snapped.

"Hell, it was his idea!" Speedball continued, "He was all 'lets teach that fascist overlord bastards a lesson! They can afford it'!"

"Okay, that's it! You're going down!" Darkhawk tackled the Masked Marvel, and the two began wrestling with one another as their team went about their business.

"Leader gets cool ride, end of discussion."

"And you like the idea of making Iron Man ride second class," Vagabond prodded.

"And I like making Iron Man ride second class."

"Now that we've had our quips, what are we going to do about the base?" Warbird demanded her hands on her hips. Former Air force, she loathed the idea of leaving a base defenseless.

"I already contacted Hank and Jan," Hawkeye explained, "they'll be here in ten minutes, and hopefully they'll be able to figure out what was stolen. I don't wanna wait, though. My gut tells me something big is going down, and I don't want to waste another minute. So lets roll out!"

As the two teams made their way to their respective aircrafts, X-Treme took a moment to pull Genis aside.

"Hey, we still cool Legacy?"

Captain Marvel looked at X-Treme like he'd just grown another head, "I was a different man compared to what I am now. As are you. That should answer your question."

That stopped Adam dead in his tracks. The Shi'ar warrior was a loner by circumstance, who valued every friend. The dismissal was like a slap in the gut.

"Don' mind him none," Two-Gun Kid slapped his arm across Adam's back, "he's like that with everyone."

Dwight Alders, known to Federal law-enforcement officials as Hardtime, watched the two super-teams file into their respective planes upon a special satellite feed their employer had hijacked.

"What on earth was Force Works doing there?" the animalistic Ambushed demanded, "we just wanted the Avengers!"

"What does it matter?" Airborne answered, "it's obvious they don't know anything about our real plans. They shouldn't be too much extra trouble."

"Airborne is correct," their employer stated from his position in the shadows, "our benefactors have been informed, and it's their opinion that Force Works' involvement will be to our advantage considering their high profile."

The man smiled like an expert Card Shark who knew his hand was a winner, "After all, it's not like we're trying to hide anything."

Hawkeye opened the cooler marked in bright red letters 'Emergency Rations' and pulled out a fresh club sandwich. Being the leader had its fringe benefits (even if he wasn't technically in charge right now). With half his team on another plane running off to face some unknown danger with the other half of his team under the leadership of a personally unknown leader, well, that made him a little nervous. But that was nothing a good sandwich couldn't cure.

"So just how'd you guys end up with the name 'Force Works' anyways?" Hawkeye took a bite and continued with a full mouth, "Ain't exactly a name with peaceful implications."

Mirage rubbed her sore back. Her mask was done and her bow and arrows laying in the corner as she tried to work a kink out of her back, "Ugh, it wasn't our first choice, at least that's what I hear. Parvenue wanted Champions, but Erik Williams and some Welsh guy were both trying to get it at the time. Force Works was just gathering dust with Stark-Fugi whatever, so…"

"You okay?"

"No," Dani groaned, "I think I took that fall wrong. Something feels outta wack."

"Really?" Hawkeye set his snack down, "Lemme see, I know a few things about getting thrown on your back. It was a Cap training past time almost."

"Have at it." Mirage unzipped the back of her uniform, and felt Hawkeye's rough hand exploring her back. Clint, well versed in battle injury, found the problem almost instantly. Just a pulled muscle. Carefully running the palm of his hand across her back, he relaxed the tension in no time flat.

"Damn, those are some magic hands," Mirage moaned as she zipped her uniform back up, "thanks."

"No prob. When you've gotten into as many fights as I have, you learn a thing or two."

There was a faint cough, and the two leaders noticed their teammates staring at them.

"What?" they asked as one.

"I thought ye and Arsenal…"

"I thought you and Warbird…"

Hawkeye and Mirage looked deep into one another's eyes, and felt a deep, powerful connection.

"I say we kill them, hide the bodies."

"Better, we order them on a suicide mission. They survive, they get court-martialed."

"Hey boss people," Vagabond called from the front, "we're approaching the site of the teleport signal."

"So where exactly are we?" X-Treme asked.

"We're in Ethiopia, inside the Great Rift Valley," Wiz Kid replied, "based on our course; we're going to be miles from local… 'Authorities', which may prove helpful."

"Their camp should be in site within a few seconds," X-Treme informed their from the co-pilot's seat.

The two teams of heroes watched the jungle speed by under them, expecting to see a small camp soon, where their foes would be laying in wait. They never expected to see what they actually saw.

Sitting in the middle of an open area, was a gray metal square, with all types of weapons sticking out of it. To say it clashed with the surrounds was an understatement.

"Why is there a castle in Africa?" Tarene was first with the obvious question.

"Shadow Force isn't below," Captain Marvel informed them, "My cosmic awareness is still hazy, but I don't sense them here at all. This is, however, where their teleportation signal leads."

"Hold on tight!" Vagabond snapped. She pulled the Quinjet to the right as several plasma blasts went flying by, "they know we're here!"

"Marvel, Tarene, get down there!" Dani snapped, "Vagabond, set us down, we're going in hard!"

"Marry me," was all Hawkeye could think to say.

Captain Marvel and Tarene dropped out of the Quinjet like depth charges. Plasma bursts were as painful as strobe lights as they descended on their targets. Tarene decided to use brute force, dropping onto the metal roof and ripping herself an opening. Captain Marvel hung back, listening to his cosmic awareness to select the best targets. He didn't need his cosmic awareness to sense that, figuratively, this was going to be a slaughter.

A metal wall exploded outwards to reveal Hawkeye and X-Treme, weapons drawn and ready. After such a dramatic entrance, they knew to expect trouble. When they saw the people rushing towards them, they did a double take.

Their foes were all males, dressed in all black robes that revealed only their face, all of had foot long beards, brandishing katana swords in each hand and a yarmulke atop their heads.

"Ninja Rabbi?" Hawkeye ducked underneath a throwing Star of David, "Ninja Rabbi!"

X-Treme charged his enemies as arrow shafts flew over his shoulder. He found to his surprise his foes were quite skilled. A quick block here, a punch there, they would be a real threat if it weren't for his strength, X-Treme concluded.

"Dozen for you, dozen for me!" Hawkeye shouted. Adam couldn't break his concentration to answer, these guys were too good. He fought back and forth with them for several minutes until,

"Gah! Damn it!" Hawkeye cried out. X-Treme realized his ally was in trouble, and pulled out all the stops. A chop to the back of the neck to one foe, a snap kick to the face of another and Adam spun around…to see Hawkeye at his teeth. The dozen he'd chosen were all subdued on the floor

"It's always one seed that ruins a sandwich," He muttered. The Avenging Archer saw X-Treme staring at him "what?"

Wiz Kid fired his personally created laser gun liberally as he strode down the hall, Vagabond following behind. Their foes fled beneath

"Are we taking a leisurely stroll, or are we actually going somewhere?" Vagabond asked.

"SOP, we secure enemy database in the hopes of greater intelligence to lead to bigger fish," Wiz Kid explained, "isn't that SOP with the Avengers?"

"I don't even know what SOP is!"

Wiz Kid spied a computer consul and made his way towards it, "Hmm. I'd bet they were scraping bottom barrel with you."

"Hey!"

Taki waved her away as he plugged a devise into the computer, "Yes, yes. I'm sure the merits of your membership are awe inspiring. I'll need you to cover me for a moment. Try not to need rescue for a few minutes, okay?"

Vagabond eyed the pairs of swords in front of her.

"Why your teammates haven't killed you yet, I have no idea."

Resistance for fierce, but brief. The combined team of heroes had little trouble overcoming their foes, but knew that was most likely only the beginning. As such, Hawkeye, Mirage and Wiz Kid left their teammates to clean up while they conferred.

"So these guys are a fringe faction of Kach, eh?" Hawkeye rubbed the back of his head, "And they are…?"

"An extremely radical Jewish faction dedicated to meeting Arab terror blow for blow," Wiz Kid stated, "this sect is particularly radical. And that's where the logic ends."

"When did it start?" Hawkeye muttered

"What do you mean?" asked Dani.

"Well, this base is well beyond their means," Wiz Kid began, "the cloaking technology alone costs ten million. Furthermore, who's kept the regional authorities and troubles from disturbing them? Who's kept SHIELD or Shen Bet from discovering them?"

Hawkeye's narrowed, "We're being played."

"Hawkeye, excuse me, do you have a comment?"

The three heroes looked towards the brush curiously, where a news crew began disembarking from a Hummer.

"And add to that list, who alerted the media…" Hawkeye droned, "We need to get SHIELD out here yesterday."

"I…I think I found out their target," Wiz Kid's face paled. The two leaders took notice of this, and listened attentively as he explained the implications of his discovery.

"Well, that's one way to start a world war for the next twenty years…"

"So just why aren't you in New York?"

"'Rent trouble," Darkhawk answered miserably, "it just peaked. I thought a different coast might make things better, ya know? Though looking back, it was a little drastic."

"Yeah, I know the joys of teenage superpoweredness combined with parents of doom," Speedball replied.

"Besides, it's not like you guys are in New York. Don't you have your own city now?"

"Oh yeah," Speedball smirked, "we traded up man! You think you wanna ditch the geriatric league and sign on? We're younger and therefore cooler than them."

"Hey, we got our own coast as turf, Speedy!" defended Darkhawk.

"Seriously though, we're always open to new talent," Speedball explained, "why not join up with the guys who're trying to make the world a better place, not keep it as is?"

"Dude, that's so not fair!" Darkhawk shot back, "at least we don't go all Rodney King on guys!"

"Is he always that annoying?" Warbird asked as she reclined in the co-pilot's seat.

"Usually," Arsenal answered.

"We're getting a call from the French head of Extra Normal Affairs," Arsenal informed his ad-hoc team.

"Quick, somebody grab a letter opener and we'll force our way in!"

"You're being absurd, Speedy," Nova shot back, "all we'd need is a tooth pick. You'd work fine."

"Is there any particular reason why the French government has an axe to grind with you?" growled Iron Man.

"Don't you people have operating agreements with all U.N. Nations?" Warbird asked, "hell, the Avengers have emergency agreements with every nation on Earth."

"They're probably still angry about our comments about their human rights record and mutant issues," Kymaera explained, "On Meet The Press, I criticized their plans for mutant registration plans and attempts to force similar legislation through the E.U."

"You criticized a major European government on National television?" Iron Man sounded as if he couldn't believe the words that came out of his own speakers.

"After their record? Of course!" Kymaera defended, "what, would you rather I just shake my head in disappointment and silent disagreement?"

"No, I'd rather you just did your job and protect people like you're supposed to! Not grind some political axe!"

"Umm, guys?" Arsenal pointed to a blank screen, "we've still got this guy on hold."

"Put him through."

A man in a French Army General's uniform appeared onto the small screen, "Force Works. Ve demand you turn your craft around thiz instant."

"We're on hot pursuit of several terrorist suspects," Kymaera stated diplomatically, "we'd like… permission to finish our pursuit."

"Non. You can give us your intelligence to us and we will investigate the matter."

"I'm afraid that's unacceptable. That amount of time they'd lose…"

"That iz not your concern." The man said simply.

"Allow me." Iron Man stepped up into sight of the screen.

"Julian."

"Iron Man."

"Force Works and the Avengers are working a joint operation. We'd be grateful if we could continue our mission. I give you my word that this mission will be conducted like every other we've completed in your country."

The General appeared visibly more relaxed, "Very well. You may continue, I vill clear everything on our end. Ve are at your disposal, Avenger."

Iron Man glared at Kymaera, "And now we can do our job."

The Stealthwing eventually settled over a dilapidated twenty story apartment building, to the surprise of some.

"That's where the signal's coming from?"

"That's what both your and my sensors indicate."

"So…a bunch of paramilitary super soldiers are hiding out in an Algerian Muslim ghetto," Kymaera stated, "am I the only one who sees that as odd?"

Warbird and Iron Man stared at the Atlantean in confusion.

"Do you just randomly memorize French city blocks?" asked Warbird.

"We've tied our plane's computers into the GPS," Kymaera explained, "it took a hell of a lot of work and complaining on Wiz Kid's part, but it's helpful when in unfamiliar territory."

"Anybody want to explain jus' what in the hell that means?"

"It means Two-Gun, that Shadow Force probably isn't below and we're headed into a trap," Warbird explained.

"Yeah, like that's new," observed Speedball.

"Well, we're not going to learn anything just standing here. Arsenal, open the drop hatch. I'll take the lead. With my sensors, I should be able to keep us from interrupting a prayer vigil or activating a bomb they may have left for us. Nova and Warbird follow second with the rest of you bringing up the rear. Any questions?"

The drop hatch slip open with no comments.

"Good."

"Lordy," Two-Gun Kid pressed his hat to his head to keep it from flying off as Kymaera grabbed underneath his arms, "why can't we never jus' land an' storm the castle that way?"

Iron Man remained silent and stoic as his patchwork team flew towards their target. For a day that started out so simple, it'd certainly gotten annoying faster than it took to tell. He preferred Force Works in their own city, not in New York or the West Coast, where he might actually encounter them. He knew he shouldn't be annoyed that they'd taken an old name for their team that he'd once used, but he was. And their cavalier attitude and actions didn't lessen his anger one bit.

And almost as if fate wanted to make a point, Nova pulled away at breakneck speeds. The Golden Avengers looked towards his teammates for some sort of explanation, who could only shrug in ignorance. Iron Man had no choice but to let the matter slide, as his scanners began blaring warnings.

Iron Man touched down on the French street with a thud and gripped the stone ground with both stands, his steel gauntlets digging into metal that shouldn't have lain underneath the street. With the smallest amount of his armor's power, Iron Man threw the section of the street aside to reveal over three dozen men, dressed it all kinds of different manners. Some as policemen, some looking as tourists and others. They looked nothing like the average might on the street might expect them to, which Stark knew was the point.

A dozen energy beams of a dozen different colors struck Iron Man at once. The pure power of the blasts were enough to level three square blocks, but to Tony Stark they felt like the playful punches of a child. His armor soaked up the power like a sponge so that ricochets wouldn't threaten the nearby buildings.

The terrorists realized too late that Iron Man wasn't alone. Warbird, Kymaera, Speedball, Two-Gun Kid, Arsenal and Darkhawk fell upon them like tactical missiles. Confronted with such awesome power, defeat could be the only outcome.

Iron Man looked over the fallen extremists and then towards Warbird, "Find Nova. I want to know what the hell he thought was so interesting that he couldn't join us."

Warbird took off in the direction of Nova. She flew for several long minutes before the Human Rocket came into sight. She observed a deep scowl on his face.

"Where'd you take off to?"

"French society lately's been increasing the alienation of the immigrant population they depend on for cheap labor, like banning all religious dress in public schools," Nova explained, "being surrounded by a hostile culture, kinda creates something of a breeding for extremism."

Warbird almost didn't want to know the answer when she asked, "So…?"

Nova glared at Warbird, "So I saw a bunch of teenagers attacking a girl 'cause she was wearing makeup. I guess I shoulda done the Avenger thing, an' just shake my head."

Iron Man ran his scanners across the full length of the secret bunker, just to be careful. He wasn't exactly expecting to find anything per say, but it never hurt to be careful. And he never expected to find what he found secreted in one wall of the bunker. Releasing a low level electro magnetic pulse, he discovered a metal safe embedded in the wall that had been hidden by a sophisticated hologram.

"What'd you find, Tin-Man?"

"I'm not sure yet, Superball," Iron Man looked over the material. Inside were six uniforms with Israeli military insignia, a light blue copy of what looked like some security plans for a Mosque, some explosives that his sensors revealed were too impure to do too much damage and a few separate devises that looked like palm pilots, but Tony Stark recognized as disguised passive sensor jammers. If the men wore the devices, only a few of the most advanced detectors (two of which Stark held the patent to) would find something amiss. Running at a cost of five million each, they were worth a hundred times their weight in gold, especially for clan destine missions.

Iron Man looked over the material for several seconds before his helmet radio went off, "Yo Shell head, you there?"

"Go ahead Hawk."

"Hope you're sitting down, because what I've got for you is going to blow your mind."

Hawkeye quickly recapped his information. With that, Iron Man looked over the objects laid out before him with new eyes, and felt his blood run cold. Like Hawkeye's team, he'd found the perfect ingredients to World War 3.

When Hawkeye finished, he asked the senior Avenger for recommendations.

"Get your team there as fast as possible. We'll meet you there once we've finished mopping up."

"Uh, just where are we going?" asked Arsenal as he tied together a handful of the fundamentalists.

"Where else? To the holy land."

Carol Danvers, known to the world currently as Warbird, had seen many oddities in her life of a heroine. Defecting Kree captains, spaceships that put the greatest special effects of Hollywood to shame, monsters from beneath the crust of the earth and a million more things besides. Such was the life she led.

So when she did a flyover of The Dome of the Rock, she naturally found herself under-whelmed. She'd seen dozens of mosques in her life for various reasons, and this one didn't look too much different from any other. Golden dome, octagon design, etc. The building was stone and glass as opposed to the more modern and less historic ones she'd seen in passing, but other than that it looked fairly normal.

Hardly something that threatened to spark another World War.

Darkhawk and Speedball stood side by side, the once night stalking hero looking at the stone building in equal confusion.

"So, what's so special about this 'Dome of the Rock' place again?"

"Just the cliff notes?" Speedball asked.

"Sure."

"Third most holy site in Islam. Where the prophet Mohammed ascended into Heaven. Built atop a demolished Jewish temple way back when."

"…damn."

"Yeah. This site will be the most holy site in Judaism, when the Jewish prophet comes to earth and restores the temple, according to some. There are those who wanna speed up the time table though, and demolish the Dome now."

"So basically, there are two really, really holy sites that people want to be here, and obviously only one can be."

"Yup."

"Man, I sure hope they fired the Real Estate agent on that one."

The people of Israel, Jewish, Muslim, Christian and everything in between gathered around the Dome. Israel and PLO security forces, along side a few spare members of both teams tried to convince them to stay back, in the case of attack, but these people felt almost compelled to try to get a glimpse of the legendary Avengers. The Israeli military successfully kept them from the Dome, but the citizens could see the Avengers, just as the Avengers could see them.

And for one Avenger, the sight of these men and women of this war torn land threatened to tear his heart apart.

By the standards of his time, Mathew Hawke was an educated man. He was a lawyer in a time when it was a respected profession filled with respectable men. He attended Church at times, before he became a famous gunslinger, and actually knew about 'The Good Book'. Unlike others of his era, he knew the significance of Jerusalem.

Birth place of Christ, son of God and one third of the Holy Trinity, Lord of creation.

He didn't expect the streets to be lined with gold. He didn't expect weather that equaled perfection. He knew that the holy city of Christ's birth wasn't run by angels, after all.

But he never once expected it to be so much worse than the home he left behind. The weathered faces, the bullet holes that riddled almost every building he could see, holes in the ground made by modern dynamite and the occasional burst of weapons fire plainly demonstrated that law and order had little reign here.

Two-Gun Kid wasn't a religious man by any means, but he wanted to believe in Heaven more than words could say. He wanted to believe that his wife and daughter, taken by ailments that would be trivial in this era, were waiting somewhere out there for him. At times, it was the only thing that kept him going. But seeing the violence and hatred that permeated this Holiest of cities, he found that belief tested to the point of breaking.

It was then he felt someone gently take his hand, and give it a reassuring squeeze. When he looked to his side, he expected to see Vagabond, or perhaps even Warbird. But instead he saw Wolfsbane.

The young woman was in her human form, and had one of the warmest smile's the man had seen in two era. She said nothing, but seeing the cross that hung from her neck no words were needed. Her silent strength was enough for Hawke to know Nancy and his little girl were indeed waiting for him.

Warbird landed a few feet away from where Hawkeye, Mirage, Wiz Kid, Iron Man and Nova were convened.

"I can't sense any unusual energy patterns within a five mile radius. Add that to our scans and the Israel security sweeps, and I'd say this place is one of the most secure places of worship on the planet." Warbird informed them.

"That doesn't make sense though," stated Hawkeye, "we found almost the same thing at both locations, indicating an attack on the Dome. But why lead us here unless they were waiting for us? I thought for sure those Shadow Force losers were gonna try to ambush us here."

"But why would they even care about a Muslim Holy site?" Nova asked.

"Who's to say they do?" Wiz Kid added, "maybe it was just bait for another trap? Perhaps they realized our team had suddenly become involved, and decided against it?"

"That wouldn't make sense though. Shadow Force could have chosen to pick off one team when they divided us," Iron Man explained, "those terrorists we fought had no idea we were coming and had no idea who Shadow Force was. They were being played."

"Just like us," Warbird muttered under her breath.

"We're missing something," Mirage explained, "we need to start at the beginning and work from there. Shadow Force attacked a U.S. military base and stole a powerful generator according to Wasp and Pym. Could that generator be transformed into a bomb?"

"No," answered both Wiz Kid and Iron Man.

"Okay. Then, they signaled the Avengers and threw the fight, leaving behind two forged teleport signals that led to two different radical groups, both of whom wanted to destroy the Dome. They wanted us to find these groups, as well as the media whom they alerted before hand."

"Actually, now that I think about it, that's not completely correct."

"What do you mean, Shell head?"

"The explosives I found in France were rendered chemically inactive. They would have exploded like a fire cracker or bottle rocket. Combine that with the fake Israeli uniforms…"

"Frame up," Hawkeye concluded.

"The effect's the same though. If Israel was implicated in an attack on The Dome…"

"Shit meet fan," Nova grimaced, "so The Dome's the center of this, but what role does everyone else play? Add it up, and we have three fingers in the 'destroy the dome' pie, Jewish radicals, Islamic radicals and the United States. But why implicate three parties?"

"Plausible deniability?" was the first thought that came to Warbird mouth.

"What about plain ol' plausibility?" Hawkeye asked, "think about it. Whoever set this up involved the Avengers because they wanted it to be high profile. If things go their way, people'll be able to blame whoever it suits them."

Wiz Kid rubbed his chin in thought, "Hmm, I hadn't thought of that. I guess the question that faces us now is how do our foes intend to get to the Dome? They must have expected the Avengers at least to reach Israel unscathed. And it wouldn't surprise me if they were observing the Airforce base after they left, so they know of our involvement. So, now's the time for their big guns."

"This thing's like an onion," sighed Mirage, "the more we peel off, the more it stinks."

It was then Kymaera hailed her teammates, "Umm, guys? I'm at the beach, and we've got a problem. We've got a Sentinel bearing down on us."

Nova, Mirage and Wiz Kid exchanged glances, and then burst into laughter.

"Care to tell us what's so funny?"

"It's just a Sentinel," Nova chuckled, "that's their great big plan. A single Sentinel."

Hawkeye, Iron Man and Warbird all sighed in relief. The robotic monstrosities known as Sentinels were certainly dangerous, especially in large groups, but they were confident that between the two powerful groups that they could handle one single robot.

"Just hold on babe, we'll be there to swat it out of the sky in a few." Nova radioed back.

"Better hurry up. It's just one Sentinel, but it's a big one."

Kymaera looked at the robotic juggernaut that lumbering towards the beach. With her enhanced eye sight, she could see the thing almost as if she were standing right in front of it. It's chest was wider than two city blocks and taller than a four story building. Its head was the size of a mansion with three different faces on each side, which complimented the three large arms on each side. The young woman recognized the robot as at least a replica of the Tri-Sentinel that Nova had fought once, although it was supposedly destroyed. Its shadow was a terrifying length and Kymaera craned her neck up higher than she ever had before, even though she was hovering ten feet in the air. The vibrations of its footsteps were like small earthquakes. Buildings miles from the beach and approaching metal behemoth were rattled to their foundations.

"Did I say big? Because what I really meant was God like."

**To be continued…**


	4. Chapter 4

**West Coast Avengers/Force Works**

**The Evil Men do, Conclusion**

**Forward Marches**

**&&&**

The Story thus far: The West Coast Avengers and Force Works have discovered a plot to destroy The Dome of the Rock, the third holiest site of the Muslim faith. Two different extremist groups have been implicated and should anyone succeed in destroying the Dome, it would spark a world war! That might explain why a sixty foot Sentinel was slowly marching on Israel, and none of the heroes have any illusions as to why it's there!

_Israel_

Richard Rider thought he saw everything, giant robots, under ground races, intergalactic wars fought by silver space knights, almost everything in his rather long career for such a young man. And perhaps that's what made what he was seeing now seem so impossible. He was seeing something both impossibly huge and deadly not for the first time, but for the second.

The seventy foot robotic monster slowly marching towards Israel and the holy sites contained within was known as the Tri-Sentinel. The robotic head that sat atop its massive shoulders had three different sides, each one reflecting a different model of sentinel. Three massive arms swung on each side, each one containing power likely equal to that of the Hulk. And Nova didn't have to be the team's super genius to know that nearly every inch of that gigantic monster was packed with offensive weaponry.

But that only made their next course of action all the clearer.

"Everyone ready?" he asked behind him. A chorus of grunts and murmurs of assent was all he received. No one was looking forward to what they had to do. Nova was only in the lead because he was the fastest, after all.

Behind him trailed the combined powerhouses of both teams. The Kree-human hybrid Warbird, Thunder Goddess Tarene, the multi-powered Arsenal, invincible Iron Man, Protector of the Universe Captain Marvel and Kymaera the Sub-mariner, all wielding enough power, strength or both to equal a small army. It certainly wasn't the most powerful collection of heroes on the planet, but damned if they weren't powerful enough on their own.

The Human Rocket reached the towering robot first, crashing fist first. But instead of ultra hard steel, Nova felt as though he had just slammed into mattress, not the metal hide of a weapon of mass destruction. Nova could feel the energy on his skin, and though his body usually absorbed energy like a dry sponge absorbs water, but the power seemed to flow out of his body as quickly as it entered. The force field was just too mercurial to absorb, but more than enough to soften any impact from a high velocity super human. Kymaera was similarly repelled.

"I think we're going to need to cut our way into this tin can, no offense shell head!" Nova called out.

Tony Stark's eyes combed over the information his scanners were feeding his armor.

"Everyone, focus on the spot I'm firing on! Alternating frequencies, if you can!"

Warbird, Tarene, Arsenal, Captain Marvel, everyone save Kymaera directed their energies towards where Iron Man's repulsars were slamming against the hull of the giant triple robot. The combined heroes wielded enough power between them to sink an entire fleet within seconds.

And several forty seconds, they stopped to access the damage.

"…we didn't even scratch the paint!"

"I have to hand it to you humans," Captain Marvel stated, "your clunky weapons of mass destruction are fairly impressive. Though it would only take a level two Kree War ship to destroy this thing from orbit."

"Why the Avengers put up with his snotty attitude I'll never know," Arsenal sighed.

"Same reason why you put up with that little techno snot," Warbird explained, "he's useful."

"Look out!" Kymaera shouted.

The Tri-Sentinel suddenly sprang to have after having seemingly allowed the collected heroes to assault its form with immunity. An energy beam as wide as a bus lanced down from the center head, scattering the group. Two giant hands swung down and slammed both Iron Man and Tarene into the water, while another hand deployed capture cables aimed at Warbird, Kymaera and Arsenal. Nova and Captain Marvel moved in to help, but suddenly found themselves caught in a fearsome crossfire as energy beams lashed out from another set of giant hands. Stray laser fire filled the airspace, the entire area becoming a lethal live show.

"Fall back!" Iron Man called out as he emerged from the water, "everyone fall back, and that's an order!"

"Since when do we take orders from him?" muttered Nova as he and his teammates, never the less, did exactly as they were ordered.

Their ground bound teammates were waiting for them at the docks, the Israel military doing their best to keep the gawking spectators out of their hair. Even as the collection of super heroes touched down, a squadron of Apache attack helicopters and F-161 Sufa jets could be seen flying overhead. The Israelis were more than willing to allow the Avengers the first shot at this threat, but it would be naïve to think that they wouldn't want their own piece of the action.

Iron Man also knew it would be naïve to think that they'd have any actual effect.

"Any luck?" asked Hawkeye and Mirage as one as their teammates returned.

"None whatsoever," Iron Man informed them, "it barely noticed our combined power. We'd need at least three times the number of Avengers we have here to break through that thing's shields."

"At least that thing's pretty damn slow," Vagabond observed. To her silent amazement, the Tri-Sentinel was fighting off the Israeli attack force without destroying a single aircraft. Plenty of near misses and force fields were used to ward them off.

"It's not slow," corrected Kymaera, "it's waiting for the world to realize it's here. Remember, everything we've discovered so far appears to be an attempt to frame two different extremist groups for the destruction of a vitally important Jewish and Muslim holy site. To really piss people off, the world needs to see it as it happens."

"So that means we still got time before it steam rolls over us," Hawkeye snapped, "ideas anyone?"

"Well, we are at one o' the Holiest cities in the world," Two-Gun Kid noted," 'gainst somethin' like that, I think prayer might be a good option!"

"Maybe we could coordinate with the Israeli military, do hit and run attacks on one area of the robot?" Arsenal proposed.

"Wouldn't work," Iron Man countered, "that force field concentrates on areas under attack, according to my scanners. And even if we spread out our attack, we still don't have anyone powerful enough to break through the force field, let alone the armor."

"The solution is simple," Wiz Kid informed them, "we have to meet the Tri-Sentinel half way."

Everyone looked at Wiz Kid like he'd just grown a new head.

"Care to explain?" asked Mirage. Wiz Kid smugly indicated for the two teams to follow him.

"Our problem is that the Tri-Sentinel is protected by a defense system that adapts its response in proportion to the threat and reacts accordingly."

"Huh?" Nova grunted eloquently.

"He means the more powerful the attacker, the stronger the defense," Warbird explained.

"Exactly," by now the heroes reached where they'd parked their respective jets. The Quinjet was untouched, whereas the nose of Force Works' Stealth Wing was missing several panels, and wires were hanging out.

"So what's your plan?" Mirage asked with a heavy sigh, "the kid loves to hear himself talk," she whispered to Hawkeye.

"I can modify our Stealthwing so that the Tri-Sentinel's sensors won't register it as a threat. Darkhawk and Speedball will reinforce the ship with their respective force fields. With our heavy hitters providing a distraction and if we can hit a weak spot I believe I've discovered, I think we can get inside."

"Why don't we stuff our power houses into the plane?" suggested Arsenal, "if they get inside, they can do the most damage."

"Won't work," Wiz Kid shouted down as he continued fiddling with the Stealth Wing, "that many energy signatures would be impossible to cloak. Plus, so long as Marvel, Tarene, ET all are providing covering fire, they'll be seen as the greater threat. No, this'll only work if we use our least powerful."

"So what're we waiting for?" Hawkeye demanded.

"I'm…having a little trouble with a few interfaces," Taki admitted, "but if you'll give me a few minutes, I should have it."

Iron Man didn't hesitate to activate his boot jets, gently propelling himself upwards until he was beside Wiz Kid. With little more than a glance, he accessed the situation.

"Excuse me," Iron Man brushed and began fiddling around wit the innards of the jet, "you've miscalculated the capacity of that Stane designed power coil. Go one watt over the recommended limit and the thing will melt into high tech crap. And you haven't allotted enough power to the shield generators."

"I…I haven't yet finished!" defended Wiz Kid.

"Do it right the first time, and you don't have to come back to it," Iron Man explained, "look, I can handle this. Why don't you get Darkhawk and Speedball situated? I can handle things here."

"I have every cog, every mother board and wire memorized!" snapped Wiz Kid, "you'll…"

Iron Man gave Wiz Kid an 'why are you still here?' look, "I'm already halfway done, kid. Sooner you finish, sooner we stop that thing."

The mutant techno morph seethed inside, but acquiesced all the same, gently floating to the ground with his personal jetpack.

"Team 2, get inside. Speedball and Darkhawk will sit in the special seats in the back."

Team Two, composed of Hawkeye, X-Treme, Two-Gun Kid, Vagabond, Wolfsbane, and of course Speedball and Darkhawk.

"I think I'll be our pilot for this flight," Hawkeye declared, "no offense kids, but I've been doing this since you guys were counting along with Big Bird."

"Did you pass your latest senior eye exam then?" Speedball asked without missing a beat.

"Damn whipper snappers," Hawkeye sighed as he began the preflight, "in my day, we waited until we were in the thick of battle to question our clearly superior leaders!"

In the back, Wiz Kid was placing what looked to Darkhawk like a high tech life preserver and began adjusting dials.

"So you guys just have this stuff laying around, in case you need to plug a teammate into your plane?" Darkhawk asked, clearly astonished at the level of preparation these heroes, some barely older than himself, some much younger.

"Of course. Our jet is one of the most vital parts of our operation, and most vulnerable. Extraction is often the most vital part of a mission," Wiz Kid remarked, thinking back to a botched mission in Africa.

"See, that's why you ought to sign up with us, Darky. We got all the angles covered."

"When you gives put that much emphasize on the getaway, you sound more like badguys than heroes, Speedball!"

"Hmm, he's got you there," Wiz Kid adjusted a final dial on Speedball's vest, "There we go. Just project your energies into the vests, and that'll provide our plane with enough protection to break through that Sentinel's armor."

"You sure we won't just bounce off? I mean, that is what Speedball does."

"True enough, but it won't be Speedball's force field that'll provide the strength to punch through. His will be underneath yours, strengthening it, absorbing the shock and redistributing the impact allowing us entry. Or crushing the entire plane and killing us. I'm not entirely certain how our fields will interact with the Tri-Sentinels."

"Well, either way it'll be interesting," Speedball remarked.

"I've finished outside," Iron Man said as he entered the aircraft, "this thing is disturbingly easy to modify into a weapon. Everyone ready?"

"Almost. Mirage, get out," Wiz Kid said causally, like he was ordering a pizza.

"Excuse me?" the leader of Force Works snapped, "have you forgotten who's in charge here?"

"We'll need a constant line of communication between the two teams. Your telepathic link with Wolfsbane will be useful in that, and Rahne's powers would be of greater use inside the Sentinel than yours."

Iron Man looked at Mirage, who in Stark's eyes was the image of a warrior woman, then and then looked towards Wolfsbane, blushing slightly and couldn't have weighed more than a hundred pounds soaking wet.

"Are you sure…"

"No, he's right," Dani interrupted, "my powers are largely telepathic, useless against machines. But we're going to have a little talk later about respect and tact, Wiz Kid."

Almost as soon as he heard the door hiss closed, Hawkeye pulled the controls back and gave the computer consul to his left one last glance.

"You sure about this, 'Kid?"

"Do you really want to know the amount of conjecture, speculation and educated guesswork goes into my theory, or would you prefer to just to trust me?"

"Umm, do I really have to answer that?"

"I've mentally reconstruction the robot in my mind's eye, using extant technology, my complete study of sentinel technology and knowledge of what would be needed to move a thousand ton robot. Every nut, bulkhead, mother board and power cable to run that monster I have constructed within my brain, examined and discovered the flaws therein. It may be an educated guess, but I am very educated."

"Hmm, someone's a mighty touchy," Hawkeye observed.

"That's one hell of a target," X-Treme said from his copilot's seat, "even if he's right, there's no margin for error. You sure you can hit it?"

Hawkeye's smirk was as smooth as ice, "Kid, the name's Hawkeye, not purple arrow."

&&&

Danielle Moonstar never felt as helpless as she did she watched the Stealthwing climb vertically into the air, and dart straight for their looming enemy, the Tri-Sentinel.

"Attention team one, hit that thing with everything you have. Spread out your attacks and hold nothing back!"

Team one didn't have to be told twice. Tarene called forth a terrible thunderstorm, and lightning from the heavens assaulted the Sentinel's head. Captain Marvel unleashed an onslaught of energy at the robot's neck while Arsenal and Warbird focused their energies on opposite sides of the robot's chest. Nova and Kymaera focused on the robot's back while Iron Man unleashed a barrage of pulse bolt, his armor's powerful equivalent of energy missiles, at the Tri-Sentinel's right knee, which was as wide as the average building.

With all the energy saturating the air, Hawkeye found himself battling for control of the Stealthwing. The plane was expertly built, the turbulence outside would have shredded most other jets, but it was still struggling. Hawkeye flew the plane on pure instinct, calling upon years of both flying all types of sophisticated planes and hitting impossible targets, waiting until the last possible second before he poured on all the power they had to hit an otherwise impossible target.

Mirage screamed as shock and fear flooded the mind-link she shared with Wolfsbane as the Stealthwing hit the left knee of the Tri-Sentinel at full speed and exploded colorfully. It was Wiz Kid's conjecture that the knee, what with its need to bend and flex, would be the weak spot in the robot's armor. That the steel, plastics and force fields around it would have to be the weakest there, comparatively. A fiery explosion however didn't bode well towards that thesis, however.

"Mirage, did they make it? Did they get inside?" Iron Man demanded, instantly making Mirage regret giving the Iron Avenger her team's radio frequency.

Mirage focused on the telepathic link she shared with her oldest friend Wolfsbane, relieved to find it was still there and still active. But that wasn't enough; she needed to know the status of the entire team.

"They're alive!" Dani shouted with heart felt relief, "they're alive!"

&&&

"We're alive?" Hawkeye said with heart felt surprise. He looked around the dimly lit room (leg?). There were flood lights, exposed power cables and a small fire from the hole they'd punched in the Tri-Sentinel that provided enough light for Hawkeye to see that his team was all alive.

As luck would have it, there was a maintenance deck situated just below their entry point that most of his team was sprawled out across. They were banged up, bleeding, but still battle worthy.

He hoped.

"Don't 'pect me to happy 'bout that fact none," Two-Gun Kid groaned. The man looked greener than Hawkeye had ever seen anyone not affected by gamma rays look.

"So do we just start smashing things, or what?" asked Darkhawk.

"We need to make our way to the top," Wiz Kid stated as he picked himself up, "nothing vital will be down here."

Vagabond looked up as metal cables and wires stretched upwards to form an impressive technological peak that dwarfed anything she'd ever seen before.

"That's one hell of a climb. You sure there's nothing vital down here?"

"I don't know, I'd think your graves would be pretty vital to your next of kin."

The gathered heroes looked up to see Shadow Force hovering above them on one of Hardtime's solid air constructs.

"I have to say, as entrance lines go, that one was far too wordy," Speedball quipped.

Hawkeye notched three arrows and let them fly before Hardtime would respond to the insult. Much to his chagrin, he noticed that his screamer and flare arrows had no effect (they must have wised up) whatsoever, but his taser arrow was just as effective as before. Hardtime lit up nicely, and the platform he'd created for his fellows disappeared instantly.

Unfortunately, while Shadowforce might not have been the professionals Force Works and the West Coast Avengers were, they were still fairly well drilled. Airborne caught her two non flying teammates, the feral Ambush and heavily armed Firefight.

Their most powerful member by far, Oversize grew to a height of thirty feet and landed upon the platform with a boom that echoed throughout the leg of the robot and scattered the heroes like rice.

"Why are ye doin' this?" Wolfsbane begged, "the people who experimented you were put in prison and ye were cured!"

"They threw us back in the second the media forgot about us!" growled Ambush. She dropped down onto the platform, and lunged at Wolfsbane, "just like they'll do with I kill you!"

Ambush stopped in midair just inches before she stopped in midair, and fell flat on her face. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that Vagabond had caught hold of her leg.

"Tag team Wolfy?"

Rahne growled, "Aye."

Nearby, Hawkeye notched his third explosive arrow and let it soar until it exploded against the giant's forehead.

"As sympathetic as I am to your tales of woe, and I am, I can't let you guys start World War Three," Hawkeye said, "we outnumber you guys almost two to one. So why not make this easier for all of us?"

"Uhh, 'Hawk, it ain't gonna be that easy," Two-Gun Kid gulped. Looking up, he saw a half dozen Dreadnoughts bearing down upon them. Two-Gun Kid eyed several power cables dangling seductively ahead of the robots. With only four shots, the time displaced cowboy severed several from the wall, and they swung down to connect with three of the robots, lighting them up like a Christmas tree.

"Okay, this officially just got interesting!" Speedball ricocheted off the wall and slammed into three remaining Dreadnoughts, scattering them.

Several panels slip open to reveal capture cables, energy weapons and other devises meant to inflict grievous harm. Within moments they were calibrated and directed towards the heroes.

"Still feel so cocky?" Hardtime laughed earnestly, "the security system is designed to protect us and attack you!"

Hardtime felt someone grab him from behind and swing him around, and before he could fight back a bolt of electricity crashed through his body and he fell blissfully unconscious.

"I don't know," Vagabond chuckled, "I think the system works pretty good against you too!"

&&&

Captain Marvel, son of the greatest Kree hero, possessor of cosmic awareness, wielder of the powerful nega-bands and current protector of the universe, had had enough.

"I refuse to be beaten by some backwards robot with technology until to be used in a Kree toilet!" Genis' barked. His hands were blazing like newborn suns. No one save Nova and Iron Man could even look at the Captain, his power burned so brightly.

With a mental push, Captain Marvel directed all that impressive energy towards the Tri-Sentinel and to the astonishment of all, punched through both the force fields and robot like a cannonball through tissue paper. The blast struck the right shoulder of the robot, sliced through and just kept on going. Some hundred miles away, the remnants of the blast would leave earth's atmosphere.

"Damn!" Arsenal exclaimed, "I'm glad he's on our side!"

"Though there are days when I wonder…" Iron Man muttered.

Their victory was short lived. The Tri-Sentinel brought all its arms to bear on Captain Marvel, who was forced to end his attack to dodge. In his bravo, Captain Marvel refused to back away from the reaching arms. With smug ease, he used his cosmic awareness to bob and weave through them and rise straight up…where he was struck with the full force of an optic blast from the giant robot's head.

"Marvel!" Warbird watched in horror as the son of her best friend fell into the waiting hands of their enemy.

"Move, people move!" Nova snapped, "Tarene, Iron Man, give us cover fire! Arsenal, Warbird, get Marvel!"

The heroes soared into action. Iron Man fired every offensive weapon in his armor at their foe while Tarene hurled magic blast after magic blast. Warbird and Arsenal were at Captain Marvel's side in an instant, using their impressive strength to pry the giant fingers open just enough to allow Captain Marvel to burst free. Their mission accomplished, the heroes pulled back from the unmoving behemoth for a moment.

"That thing's completely repaired!" Marvel gaped, "what in Pama's name does it take to stop this thing?"

Before a response could be offered, a loud, ear splitting groan, like the horn of an ocean liner blared through the air. With amounting horror, the gathered heroes watched the machine take its first giant step, and then it's second.

"Oh this isn't good," Kymaera remarked.

"Pour it on!" Warbird barked, and almost every hero did, once again throwing every energy weapon or physical attack they could muster against the robot juggernaut to little or no effect.

Tony Stark, Iron Man, was the exception. His scanners had long since shown him just how powerful their foe was, and though he had no intention of giving up, he was still reluctant to go with his hastily conceived Plan B. He turned heel and head back towards shore, where Force Works' leader Mirage was waiting.

"Any luck?" Mirage asked as Iron Man set down in front of her.

"None whatsoever. That thing was built with us in mind. It's too adaptable to our powers and too strong to stop with physical force," Iron Man explained hurriedly, "you have a telepathic link with your teammate inside, right? How are they doing?"

"They're tied down with Shadow Force and the internal security systems," Dani answered, "they're holding their own, but I don't think they'll be able to make it in time!"

"Then it's up to you and me, then."

Dani gave the Golden Avenger a curious look, "Explain."

"In the process of creating devises to ward off mind control, I researched telepathy extensively" Iron Man began, "most telepathy can't affect machines for obvious reasons. But, I think that I can interface my armor with your telepathic projection abilities and in turn use them against the Tri-Sentinel. Your illusions were powerful enough to fool some of my sensors, and I think we could pull the same trick here."

"And the downside?"

"If it worked, not only would I have control over your mutant abilities, I've have almost complete control over your body and mind," Iron Man hesitated for a moment. Tony Stark knew better than anyone the emotional damage mind-control alone could inflict upon a person. The loss of control, the loss of sense of self and helplessness… it was maddening in and of itself. And to ask someone else to hand such control over to a virtual stranger obscene to Tony Stark. But desperate times called for desperate measures, "but there's no guarantee it'll work, and even if it does it may leave you brain dead. At best."

"Well, just watch the hands and we have a deal," Mirage quickly sat down into a lotus position, "and hurry it up. That thing could make it to shore in minutes if it wanted to. We both know the only reason it's dragging it out is because it wants the world's attention."

Iron Man placed his hands beside Mirage's head and issued a series of commands to his armor, "Brace yourself, Mirage. This won't be pleasant."

Iron Man activated his newly conceived protocols, and Danielle Moonstar would have screamed if she still had control over her body. It felt as if someone had just dug into her skull with a rusty spoon and was running charged electrical wires through her brain and out her eye-sockets.

Sweat began forming on Stark's brow as he began issuing a series of complex commands, all the while trying to determine what possible side effects his actions were having on his subject. It was like performing brain surgery with untested tools for the first time in history. To say it was risky was like saying the Indian Ocean was damp.

But Tony Stark could feel it working. His scanners were reporting how the sensors of the Tri-Sentinel were now saturated with psychic energy. With enough time, he would own that piece of junk.

&&&

"We're running out of time," X-Treme informed Hawkeye as he dropped down next to the Avenging Archer, "I'm sure you can feel this thing moving, and it doesn't have that far to go."

"Can't argue that," Hawkeye shot one of his few remaining explosive arrows into the open maw of a Dreadnaught. The head exploded in a shower of shrapnel, but Hawkeye wasn't one to celebrate. More than a dozen were left, along with assorted other security devises and most of Shadowforce. So far, they'd only been able to put Ambush and Firefight down for the count. The remaining three members were powerful in their own right unfortunately, "you got a solution?"

"I can make it up to the top in minutes, if you can give me cover," the alien warrior proposed.

"By your lonesome? No way. Take your tech guy with you," ordered Hawkeye. The two subconsciously backed to the periphery of the ongoing battle, if only for a second. Though Hawkeye had little trouble concentrating in a pitched battle, the extremely high stakes of this particular battle.

"Can't. They knocked him out, I had to stash him behind a bulkhead," X-Treme countered, "I just need cover fire, that's it."

"Alright, alright, get ready!" Hawkeye reached into his quiver with a smooth, fluid motion notched and fired. A glue arrow struck Hardtime's forcefeild, a tear gas arrow exploded in front of Airborne and the final arrow, an adamantium tipped arrow pierced Oversized's pinky finger, going half way through.

"Go go go!"

X-Treme didn't need to be told twice. He leaped towards the nearest gear and pushed off the moment he made contact, angling towards the cables dangling above them. Catching them with ease, the alien/human hybrid swung upwards what looked like a service panel. Grabbing hold of that, X-Treme continued his climb. He did it with such skill and ease Hawkeye couldn't help but think of Spider-Man.

"'Hawk!"

Chris Powell turned his head towards his leader, and saw the purple archer pointing up, where the former vigilante saw X-Treme disappearing into the metal mountain of the Tri-Sentinel above them.

Darkhawk activated his wing gliders and leaped into the air as he fired his cable claw high into the air above them. Once he felt it grab a hold of something, he reeled himself up, hot on X-Treme's heels.

"Everyone form on me!" Hawkeye barked.

No one argued. Within seconds, Hawkeye was side by side with Two-Gun Kid, Wolfsbane, Vagabond and Speedball.

"Patty cake time is over. Let's take these losers out behind the tool shed!"

&&&

"I don't know what they're doing, but I'll be damned…it's working!"

The gathered heavy hitters watched in amazement as the Tri-Sentinel stopped just a city block's length from Israel's Hadera shore. Three more steps from the behemoth, and it would have been inside the city proper.

"You get used to miracles when working with Iron Man," Warbird quipped.

"Did they shut it down, or just stop it?" asked Tarene.

"Hell if I know, I don't even know what he did!"

Captain Marvel focused his cosmic awareness for a moment, and then looked towards his teammates startled.

"There is a squadron of Israel military jets on an intercept course, and if they hit the sentinel…!"

The roar of the approaching jets drowned out Marvel's statement, but it hardly mattered. If years of experience as heroes taught them nothing else, it was that Murphy's Law had a way of asserting itself at the worst times.

Three Israel made F-161 Sufa jets overshot their enemy and began looping around, their computer systems having no difficulty at all locking onto their huge target.

"Crap," Arsenal deadpanned.

"I'll see if I can stop them, you guys make sure they don't connect!" Warbird snapped.

Nova, Captain Marvel, Arsenal and Tarene moved forward to, ironically enough, protect their seemingly indestructible enemy.

The Israel jets either didn't notice that the heroes were moving to protect the Tri-Sentinel, or didn't care. With the click of a button, six specially designed EMP missiles that were enough to black out a third world nation, if they struck their target.

So the pilots were quite surprised when they saw Captain Marvel indifferently incinerate three, Nova barrel through and destroy two and Tarene calling down lightning from the sky to disable the rest. The multi-million dollar missiles were so much junk now on their way to settle on the ocean floor like so much other debris.

"This is the Avenger Warbird, authorization code Paladin Omega ten three, please respond!" Carol Danvers eyed the Israel jets with trepidation. The first salvo was stopped easily enough, but Carol knew that the Israelis weren't people who just threw up their hands at the first sight of possible failure.

"This is commander Faynberg! Mind telling me why your friends just screwed up my operation!"

"Because this is our operation, commander! Pull your people back!"

"You are in Israel's internationally recognized borders, you do not give the orders here!"

"Fine, you explain to your superiors why you disobeyed a direct request from an Avenger then!"

Arsenal, who'd overheard the exchange, gaped open mouthed as the Israeli jets broke off and headed towards home. A former member of the air force, Arsenal knew just how many hoops and how much authority one needed to so much as organize a practice flight, much less call off interceptor jets during what would certainly qualify as a national emergency.

"…wow." Was all Arsenal could think to say.

"The pay ain't great, the danger is mind numbing, but at least the respect more than makes up for all of it."

"Let's hope we bought Iron Man enough time to finish whatever it is he's doing," Nova commented.

&&&

"I think that's enough," Iron Man commented, "I've seized control of their navigation and though they don't know it yet, scrambled their sensors to hell. They won't be moving for a while."

"Not…good enough!" Mirage forced out through teeth clenched hard enough to break skin.

"It'll have to be. The longer I keep this up…"

"Don't…stop…!" Mirage feebly attempted to lift her arms to keep Iron Man's hands beside her head, but considering the Golden Avenger had almost complete control over her body, her arms just shook for a moment before dropping back to her side.

But Iron Man still recognized the tremendous amount of willpower that it took to do just that, and felt his respect for the young leader climb. He couldn't find it within himself to completely condone their actions, but he consciously realized, for the first time, that without a doubt their hearts were in the right place, and wasn't that what made a hero?

"Alright then. Here we go again…"

&&&

The Shi'ar warrior X-Treme and neophyte Avenger Darkhawk took a moment to catch their breath. They'd just either fought or by passed too many defenses to count, and had reached their objective in record time. When the duo reflected upon it later, they would agree they were in all likelihood allowed to reach their objective as (relatively) easily as they had because their mysterious foe simply did not have reason to fear them.

For now, they could only hope it would be his undoing.

Darkhawk and X-Treme tore through the door with ease, and stopped instinctively. Though they lost the element of surprise, both heroes had long since learned that blindly rushing it invited failure.

And though in theory, they were prepared for anything, that was far more easily said than done.

Standing in the center of the room was a man dressed in a costume straight out of a 70s blaxploitation movie with a smoothly shaved head. Behind him was a screen that displayed the rapidly approaching Israel coast and if your eyes were keen enough (and Adam's were), the sacred Dome of the Rock could be seen inching closer and closer.

Naturally, examining the villain's costume, Darkhawk's first thought was 'when did Luke Cage become a villain?'.

"Welcome heroes," the man said slowly, "my name is Moses Magnum. You two have the honor of seeing the spark that will ignite the entire world in war!"

"Flattered," X-Treme attacked first, with his sword in one hand and axe in the other, he intended to disembowel the villain. Desperate times called for expedient measures.

The nearly indestructible blades, fashioned from alien metals designed to withstand space travel and reentry, stopped dead.

Darkhawk barely ducked in time to avoid X-Treme's hurtling body. Snapping out his glider wings, Darkhawk shot up and unleashed a volley of darkforce blasts at Magnum, who barely seemed annoyed.

"Is this all your power, boy?"

Magnum leapt into the air and tackled Darkhawk. The two slammed down on the floor with Darkhawk on the bottom. Moses Magnum picked himself up, grabbing Darkhawk by his helmet and hauling him up to eye level.

"My power is to channel the seismic forces of this planet into my body. A bit more impressive, don't you think?"

Only a second later, Magnum found himself thrown against the far wall where he came down atop priceless guidance computers and other sophisticated technology that guided this giant death trap.

"Power still needs leverage, skill…" X-Treme helped the still aching Darkhawk stand, "besides, we've already won."

X-Treme pressed a button on his belt, and the room around the two heroes exploded spectacularly. X-Treme had a big, stupid grin on his face for a whole ten seconds until he felt the Tri-Sentinel still moving.

Moses Magnum grinned like a wolf as he took in the destruction, "What kind of fool operation do you think I run, boy? Do you think I would build a monster this size and have only one means of control? The Corporation wouldn't bank roll an operation that foolish! I transfer the controls to a secondary system before you got within a hundred feet of this station!"

"…crap," Darkhawk summarized.

Moses Magnum cracked his knuckles, "Now, where were we?"

&&&

"Almost there!" Iron Man assured Mirage, but the pounding in her skull drowned out everything but the pain. By now, he'd used her mental powers to assume total control over their enemy, but that only worked so long as Mirage stayed conscious.

And try as she may, Danielle Moonstar was finding that task to be hard and harder. She mind felt as though her nerves were replaced with live wires and grafted onto her body. What made it a thousand times worse was that Dani didn't even have enough control over her body to so much as clench her teeth, let alone howl in pain like she wanted to.

"Almost…there!"

&&&

"Only a little time now…"

X-Treme and Darkhawk, battered and bloodied, slammed into the wide screen monitor and slid down on their asses.

Moses Magnum stood before them, looking none the worse for wear. In fact, he was beaming with pride as he looked past the two where the Dome of the Rock was now only three city blocks away.

"…and this will all be over. You will be dead, the Dome destroyed, the world at war…and to think, this was just a prelude."

"Prelude?" coughed X-Treme.

The powerful arms dealer opened his mouth, then paused, "I'm sorry, I fear I've said too much already. Let's just say this venture was sponsored by certain others with whom I wish to make an alliance. Ready to die now?"

X-Treme pushed himself to his feet, and Darkhawk could see the warrior reach for something hidden in his belt.

"I'm going to try something really stupid and desperate. We'll have one shot…"

Even Darkhawk was surprised by what he said next, "I'm an Avenger. We don't miss."

With one great leap, X-Treme shot over Magnum like a well thrown football. Landing behind the villain, X-Treme slapped two things of plastic explosives on both ears. By the time Magnum had pivoted to turn around, Adam had already leapt away, depressing the button that activated his final two detonators.

Moses Magnum's head disappeared underneath a small fireball, and his scream of pain could have been heard for miles, literally. He staggered, and was hit by a freight train of ebony energy courtesy of Darkhawk. When he hit the specially reinforced walls of the Tri-Sentinel, Magnum barely slowed in his journey before being propelled outside and far, far away.

"How's that…for one shot?" Darkhawk asked between gasps. His chest plate was smoldering and the young man was on his knees. If his robot body had actual lungs, Chris Powell suspected he'd be gasping for breath now.

"'Hawk, do you feel that?" asked X-Treme quickly.

The floor beneath them shook, and was then torn in twain by a laser blade. Their missing teammates spilled out.

"Sorry we're late, those Shadowforce losers took a little longer to beat into submission than I thought, plus the hike…!"

"Where's the bad guy?" inquired Speedball. Darkhawk silently pointed towards the hole in the far wall.

"Dang. Guess we were…"

"Too late," Wolfsbane whispered. The gathered heroes turned their attention towards the monitor, where they saw what had once been the Dome of the Rock was now a smoldering crater.

"I can't believe it. They actually won…the villain won," Vagabond felt a chill run down her spine as she recalled her secret debt, "the villain won…"

"Umm, guys?"

"This bodes ill for the Middle East peace process, to put it mildly," Wiz Kid observed, "this takes it all the way back to the beginning, at least."

"Guys! Nothing happened!" Speedball shouted, and then pointed towards the hole Darkhawk created. Israel could be seen in the distance, and a vast track of ocean between them and the shoreline.

"Don't trust everything you see on TV…"

&&&

Naturally, when a politically important and historically volatile Holy Site is reportedly threatened, the entire world (especially the immediate region) demand answers. The press conference was held by both teams with Iron Man and Hawkeye representing the West Coast Avengers and Mirage and Kymaera representing Force Works.

Namorita did her best to keep the press' furor to a minimum, but it was like trying to contain a tempest in a teapot. Within seconds of her explanation of why the Tri-Sentinel was standing outside, how it related to two terrorist groups captured earlier and how it might have affected the Dome of the Rock, the press room exploded in a furor of questions.

"Will Israel be allowed to keep the weapon of mass destruction?"

"The Tri-Sentinel will be dismantled by an international team, rest assured that it will not menace another nation," Kymaera assured them.

"How do we know this wasn't a frame-up by radical extremist groups?" asked another reporter, hate lacing every word.

"Because clearly, neither of the two groups involved had the resources to enact a plan like this," Kymaera explained.

"People might find it convenient that Moses Magnum escaped? How else can we confirm this story?"

Kymaera hesitated, and sensing an opening like a sharks smells blood, the gathered media pounced in a maddened frenzy.

"Aren't Sentinels primarily a weapon of the United States? How do we know they weren't a part of this?"

"Do you really know how well funded those radicals in France really were? How do we know a local oil rich government wasn't in fact backing them?"

"Why did you allow that thing to get as close as it did?"

And the leading questions from all political spectrums continued. By the time Kymaera had an answer to one, another five were thrown in her face.

For a moment Moonstar thought she might have to intervene, (which wasn't an appealing thought considering her migraine) when a high pitched whistle interrupted everyone.

"Now that I've got your attention, the Avengers can set the record straight," Hawkeye took the podium with natural ease and the most disarming grin Mirage had ever seen, "Moses Magnum, class A jerk and world class war monger, tried to start a war by framing two separate groups of whacko's for destroying the Dome Rock thing. But we whupped him and his cronies good. Shadowforce is going to jail. The three in one sentinel will be dismantled and turned into coke cans by Stark Enterprises. You have the word of the Avengers. Now…any more questions?"

There were murmurs of assent, and though there were plenty of follow-up questions, no one dared challenge Hawkeye's promise. To do so would challenge the moral authority of the Avengers themselves and no one wanted to do that without the proper ammunition.

Satisfied that the matter was well in hand, Mirage silently excused herself to get some air on the roof. After a few minutes and a moment's reflection, Iron Man followed.

He found her on the roof, looking out where the Tri-Sentinel was being illuminated by the setting sun. It was in Tony Stark's mind the most disgusting thing he'd seen in a long while. Such incredible technology, resources and willpower devoted not to the betterment of humankind, but devoted to war, death, and destruction. The cold, heartless part of technology that Stark loathed.

"How are you feeling?" Iron Man asked, "What I did…wasn't exactly approved in most medical circles…"

"Women go through pain on a monthly basis," Mirage answered matter of factly, "I'll be fine. But I will get a check up on Muir Island, if it makes you feel better."

"It would."

"The name 'Corporation' ring any bells? According to X-Treme, that's who Magnum was trying to impress with this scheme."

"Historically? Yes. Recent problems, no."

Mirage shrugged, "Well, if you don't run across them in the future, we will. That's usually how these things work."

"True enough."

An awkward silence blanketed the area for a moment.

"You have something you want to say?"

"Want? No," Iron Man sighed, "but I need to say it anyways. When I founded Force Works, it…wasn't with the best intentions. The West Coast team was on its last legs, my life was falling apart…I just needed something I could control.

With an attitude like that, it's no wonder the team fell apart long before it actually disbanded. When I heard about you youngsters, I'll admit, I was angry about your name choice. But seeing you in action…Force Works under me and my friends wasn't a legacy to be proud of. I'm confident you'll make the new legacy of Force Works a better one."

Mirage took in Iron Man's statement for a moment before answering,

"I'll be honest. Before, I didn't think that your blessing would mean that much to me. I had no idea how wrong I was. Thank you, Mr. Stark."

If Iron Man was startled, he didn't show it. The two heroes shook hands in understand, and went to their teams.

&&&

_Epilogue 1_

Moses Magnum, a powerful villain who'd once battled the X-Men and Wonder Man single handily, stood on bended knee in a secret room with several monitors focused upon him. It was humbling to a man of his ability, but like all power mongers Moses Magnum lusted for more. And he knew that if he ever wanted to truly achieve more, he would need to soothe over this...miscalculation.

"You failed. The day is out, and the world is at peace." The voice was scrambled, yet vaguely feminine. The anger was unmistakable.

"There were…unforeseen factors," Magnum defended.

"We provided you complete dossiers on the West Coast Avengers, complete access to our technologies which enabled you to restore the powers of Shadowforce. All you had to do was carry out this attack," this voice held a slight African accent, but had the tone of a silver tongue, "not only did you fail in this, but you compromised our existence to Force Works and the Avengers. We are not pleased, boy."

Moses Magnum gritted his teeth, but didn't lose control. His powers were dampened, and even if they were, making an enemy of these people over an insult was pure foolishness. Swallowing his pride, Magnum made one last plea,

"One more chance is all I ask. No one could have predicted Force Works would have gotten involved. Do we even know why?"

"Life is what happens when you have other things planned, my comrades used to tell me," said another voice, a Russian accent slicing through the scrambled voice, "if you can't handle life, then you are of no use to us. You may see yourself out, Magnum."

The screens terminated instantly, leaving the armors dealer alone with his thoughts. Without thinking, Magnum lashed out at the ground and utterly destroyed the abandoned warehouse they had been using as a relay station. Considering the power of the people he had been petitioning, it was the only measure of vengeance common sense would allow.

&&&

_Epilogue 2_

It was well into early morning by the time the Avengers Quinjet touched down in Force Works' hangar. The team exchanged a few mild pleasantries, but both teams were eager to call it a day and hit the sack.

"You sure you don't wanna join us?" Speedball asked his old friend Darkhawk one final time.

Chris Powell, Darkhawk, looked towards his teammates piling into their jet, and then towards Force Works.

"Thanks for the invite Speedy, I mean it, but…I think someone needs to save the world so you guys can change it."

**The End **


End file.
